Even if you’re not especially into customizing, there are some settings you should change right away. By default, Android Auto has some settings that don’t make for the best driving experience. Here’s a look at four of those, and why you should change them now.
1. Decline to start music automatically
This feature can be convenient, but it can also be annoying. By default, Android Auto resumes where it left off every time you start your car.
This capability means you’ll hear the high-energy playlist or intense podcast you were listening to last night before you even back out of the driveway the next morning.
If you’re the only one who uses your car, this feature might be fine, but if you switch cars with family members or have kids getting in and out of your vehicle, you probably don’t want this capability enabled. The good news is that it’s simple to restart your media, so go ahead and turn off automatic start. You can find this option in your phone’s main settings app by searching for Android Auto, then toggling “Start music automatically.”
2. Turn off message notifications
There are at least two message notification settings you probably want to change. By default, Android Auto shows part of any text message that you get. This feature isn’t necessarily a good thing. If you have passengers in your car, you probably don’t want your messages showing every time. In addition, incoming messages take up your display, potentially covering up your navigation instructions or other important information.
You’ll probably want to turn off “Show group conversations” as well. If you’ve ever been annoyed by a rapid-fire group text, you know it can be distracting enough on its own. But in your car, this situation can be even worse when notifications keep interrupting your music or podcast. If you’d rather mute all message notifications, you can. Turn off “Play message chime.” You’ll still see the notification, but your media will play uninterrupted.
3. Remove apps you won’t use
There’s a good chance you don’t use some Android Auto apps. Whether it’s the ones built in from the start or just compatible apps on your phone, such as messaging apps that you rarely use or a music service you tried once, your display will show every potential app on the launcher by default. If you’d prefer to see only the apps you use, you can customize your launcher.
Your Android Auto should be as simple as possible, and decluttering the screen is a big part of that approach. Note that this strategy doesn’t delete the apps from your phone; it just removes them from your car screen. You can put the apps back any time you want. From Android Auto settings, tap “Customize launcher.” You’ll be able to go through and choose the apps you want to appear.
4. Turn on taskbar widgets
By default, Android Auto has icons at the bottom of your screen for your most recently used apps. It’s a convenient way to switch between apps, but I’ve found that it’s not the best use of these icons. Turn on taskbar widgets, and these icons become dynamic quick controls that change depending on which app you’re using. These options may include media controls to play or pause, navigation shortcuts to show your next turn or route info, or context-based shortcuts, such as calling a recent contact.
The iPhone Shortcuts app reminds me of Minecraft. It might be relatively easy to jump into, but it offers nearly limitless potential, allowing you to build anything you want. The same holds true for the Shortcuts app, and that endless possibilities are what many iPhone users might find intimidating. But you don’t have to.
If you are new to iPhone shortcuts, think of them as little automated helpers. You can build them yourself or find ones that others have built and use them. And that’s the beauty of shortcuts. If you don’t want to get your hands dirty, you can find shortcuts others have created and tailor them to your needs.
With that said, let’s check out my favorite shortcuts. These are not the best shortcuts on everyone’s list, but they are the ones I use daily to get things done faster and more efficiently.
App settings: stop digging through the settings app
Anyone who has spent more than five minutes hunting for an app’s permissions inside the Settings app knows how frustrating it can be. You have to open the Settings app, scroll all the way down, open the Apps section, scroll again to find your app, and only then can you enter its settings.
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This shortcut fixes that completely. It uses the Get Current App and Open URLs actions in the Shortcuts app to detect which app you are currently in and jump straight to its settings page. Once you set it up and add it to your Control Center, all you have to do is open the app, swipe down from the top, and tap the shortcut.
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It will automatically open the current app’s settings. It is genuinely one of the most practical shortcuts I have ever created, and you can download it using the link below.
Apple Frames 4: make your screenshots look professional
If you ever share screenshots on social media, a blog post, or a presentation, this shortcut is for you. Apple Frames 4 is a free shortcut by Federico Viticci of MacStories, which can wrap your screenshots in a proper device frame.
The latest version is noticeably faster, supports all recent Apple devices, and even lets you choose frame colors and scale the images proportionally. What I love most about this shortcut is that it can take multiple screenshots as input and combine them in one image.
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All the images in this article have been created using the same shortcut. If you also take screenshots regularly, I can highly recommend this shortcut. I would also recommend you check out my favorite screenshot utility for Mac. It offers all the missing features of Mac’s built-in screenshot tool and then some.
Scan document: your pocket scanner is already in your hand
You don’t need a third-party app to scan documents on an iPhone. You don’t even need to open the Notes or Files app the usual way. With this shortcut, you can open the document scanner instantly and scan and save papers without any extra steps.
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I have it in my Home Screen and use it whenever I need to quickly scan a receipt, a letter, or any paper document. It’s one of those shortcuts that sounds simple until you realize how much time it saves you every week.
Resize & convert: resize images without downloading a third-party app
How many times have you shared a photo only to find out it was too large, or in the wrong format for where you needed it? Since the iPhone Photos app doesn’t let you resize an image or change its format, I found a simple shortcut to do it.
Rachit Agarwal / Digital Trends
The steps are pretty easy, too. You pick the image, set the size, and the shortcut handles the rest. I use this a lot when I need to send images for articles or posts that require specific dimensions.
It handles a task I would otherwise have to do on my Mac or download a third-party app on my iPhone to complete.
I deal with a lot of PDFs, and sometimes I need to extract a few pages to share or save. So I downloaded a shortcut that lets you select specific pages from a PDF and extract them into a new file.
Rachit Agarwal / Digital Trends
It sounds like a small thing, but if you have ever had to send someone just two pages from a 40-page PDF, you know how handy this is. You don’t need to download any app, pay a subscription, or open your Mac. Your iPhone handles it in seconds.
Clipboard history: because you always lose what you copied
This is one of the most underrated shortcuts on this list. While macOS has finally added a clipboard history feature with the macOS Tahoe update, the iPhone still doesn’t have a clipboard history. That means every time I copy something on my iPhone, it erases all the previously copied items.
Rachit Agarwal / Digital Trends
So I built a shortcut to work around it. Now, every time I copy something on my iPhone, it saves to a note, creating a running clipboard history I can refer back to whenever I need it. The only issue is that I have to run the shortcut manually for it to work.
Rachit Agarwal / Digital Trends
So that’s why I have added it to the Back Tap gesture (go to Settings → Accessibility → Touch → Back Tap) on my iPhone. Once I copy something I want to save, I simply tap the back of my iPhone three times to trigger the shortcut and save the copied item in a preassigned note.
Rachit Agarwal / Digital Trends
When you download the shortcut, make sure to edit it by tapping the three-dot menu and selecting the note you want to use as your clipboard history.
Turn off mobile data when iPhone connects to Wi-Fi
To balance the manual activation of the last shortcut, I give you one that is pure automation. Once you set it up, you never have to think about it again. The shortcut uses the Shortcuts automation feature to detect when your iPhone connects to a Wi-Fi network and automatically turns off your mobile data.
Rachit Agarwal / Digital Trends
I have also set up the companion automation that turns mobile data back on when you leave Wi-Fi. It saves battery life and prevents your phone from uselessly using mobile data when it doesn’t need to. Since this is an automation, there’s no way to share a downloadable link, but you can learn how to create this shortcut. The screenshot should give you the basics of how to do it.
My 7 favorite iPhone shortcuts
I know the Shortcuts app can feel intimidating at first, but most of these require very little setup, and the payoff is immediately obvious. Start with one that solves a problem you have right now, and before long, you will be building your own.
If you have an iPhone and are not using Shortcuts, you are missing out on one of the most powerful tools Apple has built. So, definitely give this a try, and your life will never be the same.
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