Android @lemdro.id mFat @lemdro.id 1 yr. ago

Neat moto feature I wish to see in more phones

I was playing with a Motorola G72 and noticed this feature by accident: double-tap on the back of the phone to trigger a custom action.

Here is a video showing this feature

This is not the same as double tapping the fingerprint scanner. This phone has a front-facing under-display scanner.

It's very neat and handy, I hope other phones implement this too.

Update: See this comment for a link to an app that enables the feature on many phones.

39 comments

You can do this in iPhones too. Under accessibility and Backtap.
- Wow! I bet most iPhone users don't know this exists. This is more like a usability feature than an accessibility one. It even supports triple tap!
  
  They don’t. I used to work the Genius Bar and sadly the majority of users don’t know how to sign on to iCloud haha.
  
  Apple has a habit of hiding away features. There are some outstanding accessibility features on iPhone.
  
  I personally use the Backtap to run a shortcut that turns off WiFi, not greys it out but off off. I get irrationally mad when it always try’s to connnect to networks and kills my internet.
chop chop flashlight is the very best feature of the Moto series
- Honorable mention to twist twist camera
  
  And to twist for switching between main and selfie camera.
- For real. I moved over to Samsung a while back and I miss choppy choppy light light.
  
  And shake for camera
- It's been six years since I switched from an X2 to a pixel 2 and I still miss the flashlight chop
  
  I still chop chop the Teracube I've had for a while and then go "oh yeah..."
  
  I had two moto phones back to back and then switched to the pixel. Can't tell you how many times I tried to turn on the flashlight this way before realization kicks in.
- Should be noted it's fairly simple to do this on any Android phone with Tasker.
  
  Profile > Event > Sensor > Shake Left-Right > task=torch toggle
  
  Tasks > Alert > Torch > Set Toggle > task - torch toggle
- I went to pixel because the last couple of moto phones were just meh, but chop chop flashlight was the greatest thing ever
Pixel phones also have this feature, called quick tap. Quite handy to turn on and off flashlight for example.
- I use it for quick notifications
Reading the comments, it looks like there are lots of other phones doing this.

Personally I use it to turn on the flashlight on my Pixel 6.
The Pixel series have this. It's called Quick Tap.

Combined with Tasker, you can make it do anything -- if the existing options aren't enough.
- Cool. It's incredibly useful. Didn't know Pixels had this too.
- yep. have it on the fold. its not perfect but its pretty good!
On other devices, you can use Tap, Tap but it may not work as well
- Requires root or a compatible Pixel device..
  
  I just got it working on a non-rooted Galaxy S10
  
  it's not necessary anymore, I'm using it on a non-rooted phone
Quite a few phones have similar features. Samsung users can use GoodLock to use the back tap too.

But when I tried in the past, I didn't like it, too many false triggers.
Samsung has this as well as triple tap under RegiStar via Good Lock, but it randomly just stops working. It was great at first, but now I don't even try to use it because so often it just doesn't work.
Back when I had my Mi A1, I used to run a Pixel 2XL GSI ROM that enabled the same feature.

I used that to take a screenshot, and later, show the accessibility menu when my power button and volume buttons stopped working.

CC: @ladfrombrad@lemdro.id who is the only person I know that still has their A1
https://github.com/KieronQuinn/TapTap
I miss my Motorola phones.

Had nothing but Motorolas since my very first Android. Absolutely loved the gestures and hands free interaction. Went through a series of Moto phones over the years until I accidentally destroyed my last one and needed a new device ASAP. Ended up with a Samsung S21 which is a perfectly fine phone,but it doesn't have the personality of any of my old Motos. It does have a much better camera though than any of my Motorolas.

I don't want to buy a new phone any time soon, but I definitely want to go back to Motorola.
The two underneath it are lifesavers too.
- Yeah both are brilliant design ideas. Only someone who has used a moto phone knows what we mean.
Xiaomi has it also
The ROM i'm using has it
- Which rom and which phone?
  
  Evolution X Poco X3 NFC
This works on Pixels. I have mine set to flashlight.
Asus has some of these.
So if I flip it, will I have to DM or will the phone do it for me?

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