Change the Volume From the Notification Panel with Xposed

You know, it seems like a lot of the time it’s simply much easier to navigate to my phone’s ‘sound’ settings and manually change the volume of my music rather than actually pressing the physical volume buttons on the side. Maybe because my device is finally showing its age, or I’m just not patient enough, but on many occasions the volume buttons decide not to trigger, or it changes the wrong type of volume at the good part of the song which absolutely needs to be played at the loudest volume. And I’m sure that many of us share similar gripes with our devices. Lucky for us however, XDA Senior Member hamzahrmalik has developed the perfect Xposed module for the job.

Aptly name Notification Volume, the Xposed module imbeds volume sliders into the bottom of the notification panel of your Android device. This means the next time you need to immediately change the volume, you don’t have to wait for your volume buttons to ‘unlag’ as you can simply drag down the notification panel and adjust your ringer, media, or alarm volume from there. As of right now however, two bugs are yet to be ironed out, being that the volume sliders overlap your quick setting tiles if you have a lot, and the sliders will not update if the volume was changed by the volume buttons.

If you would like to give Notification Volume a whirl on your device, head over to the Notification Volume module thread to get started.

The post Change the Volume From the Notification Panel with Xposed appeared first on xda-developers.

Customize the Info Panel of the OnePlus One Lock Screen

The lock screen of the OnePlus One is quite the pleasant thing to look at. It’s minimalistic and simple, yet different from what we’ve all perhaps gotten used to over the years. But by default, the customization options are quite limited, particularly in regards to the solid-colored panel that takes up the bottom half of the screen. Yes, you can say that a third party lock screen will fix this little issue, but if you’re looking for some more freedom with the original lock screen, you may want to check out Recognized Developer NunHugger’s mod.

NunHugger’s mod essentially allows you change the color of the OnePlus One lock screen panel or replace it with an image or a gradient. The mod comes in a variety of options pre-made by NunHugger ranging from solid colors such as black, red and orange, to brushed metal and various wood textures. Furthermore, NunHugger has also written a brief tutorial teaching you how you can include your own colors and images to the lock screen panel mod, with NunHugger planning on writing a more comprehensive tutorial in the future.

So if you’re an owner of the OnePlus One and feeling like the lock screen might need a little spicing up, check out the lock screen panel mod thread for more information.

The post Customize the Info Panel of the OnePlus One Lock Screen appeared first on xda-developers.

Liven up Your Notification Icons by Animating them with with LiveIcons

We usually see quite a bit of Android customization in a few select elements of the UI, such as the lock screen, status and navigation bars, and home launcher. However, one of the areas we’ve not seen many people delve into is device animation, particularly with regards to animated notification icons. Perhaps it’s a little too insignificant for anyone to notice, or maybe it just never came across people’s minds, but animated notification icons might be a really fun part of Android customization that no one’s really considered.

With this said, XDA Senior Member hulgo has developed an Xposed module called LiveIcons that animates your Android device’s notification icons. As of right now, the module allows you to replace your current still SMS icon with either of two animated icons called ‘Breathing’ and ‘Flip’. The module is compatible with any Android device running any ROM that uses the AOSP messaging app with the package name com.android.mms.

Hopefully in the future we’ll see more icons and options introduced to LiveIcons in the future, as it is definitely a fun module that has a lot of potential. If you would like to give this a go, contribute to the module, or check out the development progress, head over to the LiveIcons module thread for more information.

The post Liven up Your Notification Icons by Animating them with with LiveIcons appeared first on xda-developers.

5 of the Best Android Apps Amazon's Giving Away For Free This Weekend

As they've done before, Amazon's App Store is having a blowout on some fantastic Android apps this weekend. The Everything (App) Store is offering over $135 worth of apps for zero dollars—27 apps, entirely free. Here's the best of the temporary freebies:

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Microsoft updates Remote Desktop app, brings immersive mode

Considering how Android competes with Microsoft’s business in a lot of painful ways, it’s a wonder that the software giant’s products dovetail quite nicely with Android OS. There are a lot of Microsoft apps for Android out there, and most of them seem to be engineered for seamless integration. One of those apps, a free app at that, is Microsoft Remote Desktop which just recently received an update.

The update seems to be targeted at general bug fixes for proxy issues, as well as fixing a very annoying app crashing problem. But the star of this recent update is the incorporation of Android 4.4 KitKat’s immersive mode – which allows for the remote devices to utilize the bigger screen size of the desktop it is connecting to. Sadly, this part of the update seems to work only with tablets.

In a way, that is logical since tablets have way more screen real estate. That said, if you have used Microsoft Remote Desktop before, you will understand that this is a big deal for people trying to get the most productivity out of a remote connection app.

The said app is a free download via the Google Play Store, so you can try it if you haven’t yet. The Microsoft Remote Desktop app is only compatible to laptops and PCs running Windows 8 Pro or higher, Windows 7 Pro or higher, Windows Vista Business or higher, and Windows XP Pro or higher.

SOURCE: Google Play Store

Story Timeline

• Microsoft Remote Desktop app makes its way into Android


• Microsoft Remote Desktop Android app gets updated


• Chrome Remote Desktop now available for Android

Vine app for Android updated, new camera features unlocked

Vine is one of the coolest and most efficient video apps you could have on your Android phone, and it was a pity that you couldn’t import existing videos to upload. Well, we have good news – that feature has been unlocked in this new update of the popular video sharing app.

In this new update, a new button is added to your camera UI on the left for you to access internal storage and use videos you have already captured and stored on your device. The Vine app now allows you to preview any of these videos – without limit to length – and the trim it down to the required 6 seconds or less and then upload it out into the intarwebs.

This of course will be a gateway to a lot of “mix and match” vines that would start appearing on Vine because of this feature. Apart from that, there are small interface tweaks that should make the app that much better – an “undo” feature on your last recording, brighter video recording in low light environments, and the ability to duplicate a clip.

These updates just add positives to the already popular Vine app – it just keeps improving itself. The updates are not groundbreaking, but they make the app that much more convenient. Get the app at the source link right now.

SOURCE: Google Play Store

Story Timeline

• Vine updated, allows for Gingerbread users to view videos but not upload


• Vine updated to allow for direct video messages


• New Vine update includes loop counts, app redesign

Wear Apps Tracker app updated with new UI features

The problem with managing apps on your Android Wear wearable device is that – with such a small screen – app management was never in the mind of the UI designers. That is why when you install an app to your wearable, you don’t usually get a notification when the installation is done, you just have to wait until the app appears on your start menu list. Wear Apps Tracker changes all of that.

The app is actually a small wonder if you are one of those who are utilizing their new Android wearable device and not having an iota of app management capability on it. The Wear Apps Tracker app notifies you via your Android Wear device stream that an app has successfully installed. In fact, the app gives you relevant notifications every time you install, uninstall or update an app.

Recently, the app just got updated with various UI fixes that make the app a whole lot better. Firstly, the app now takes towards the “material design” that should be very dominant in Google’s new OS that will be launching soon – Android L. Also, the app now allows users to manage app setting just by tapping on an area in the settings screen.

If you feel like you’re not getting the most out of your Android Wear device, then you might want to get this app from the Google Play Store, it’s a free download. It might just make your Android Wear experience a whole lot better.

SOURCE: Google Play Store

Story Timeline

• OneNote now available for Android Wear


• Android Wear messaging uses voice to reply to texts


• tinyCam Monitor PRO app updated, now supports Android Wear