We get customizable on-screen Home, Back and Menu buttons on any Android device (Floating Soft Keys). Why does a modern smartphone still need physical buttons? Download side keys and buttons for Android

If we talk about possible reasons why the touch buttons on an Android phone stopped working, the failure is more often on the physical side than the software side. If there are reasons from the first list, most likely you will have to take the device to a service center.

Physical reasons:

• A strong blow to a tablet or smartphone, a fall from a height.
• Prolonged exposure to moisture. Particularly serious damage occurs due to water getting into the area between the screen and film or under the housing. Contacts are oxidized. After exposure to moisture, action must be taken immediately.
• Sudden temperature changes. Return the device to room temperature. Sensor performance may improve.

• Punching the screen. There are no scratches or cracks. The damage is noticeable when pressed - then glare is visible in the damaged parts of the sensor.
• Replacing the screen with an unsuitable model.
• Serious contamination. Wipe away dirt, dust, moisture, and fingerprints with special wet wipes from an electronics store or a microfiber cloth.
• Poorly applied film. In places where air accumulates under the film, parts of the screen will stop working. Remove the film and, if possible, replace it with a new one.

Software reasons:

1. The OS is overloaded with applications or some of them are not working correctly.
2. Changes device settings.
3. Touchscreen problems are possible if the screen does not recognize touch correctly or poorly. Screen calibration will help here (you can actually do it at home).
4. Inappropriate or unstable firmware version.

Why doesn't part of the sensor work on Android? Most likely, the contact has come loose or oxidized.

For a phone with a removable battery, remove the cover and remove the battery. Insert it back and turn on the device using the mechanical button.
If the sensor does not work partially, but not completely, and you can download the application, install Rebooter from the Play Market. On Xiaomi, Meizu or Digma, after long pressing the on/off button (20 seconds or longer), the phone will reboot or turn off. For Samsung and Sony, press the Power/Lock, Volume Up, and Volume Down buttons simultaneously. Hold for 7-10 seconds. If that doesn't work, try again, but hold down these three keys longer. If your smartphone is from other manufacturers and has a built-in battery, perhaps the above methods will help. Otherwise, you will have to wait until the battery is completely discharged or take the device to a service center, where they will also sort out problems with the screen. It also happens that a reboot is needed just to get the display to respond again. What to do if the sensor on Android does not work after locking the screen?

Most often the problem is with the firmware version. To solve this, update the Android version and, if that doesn’t help, reset the settings. How to do this is in paragraphs 2 and 4 of the instructions in the next paragraph of the article. Why don't touch buttons work on an Android phone? Sometimes the problem is the film. If everything was fine before, try to remove it. Sometimes it’s even a matter of new protective glass, which can also be detached yourself. Users say that the bottom touch buttons, which stopped working after calibrating the screen (3rd step of the following instructions), became sensitive again.

Common repair options

These steps will help in many cases of malfunctioning of a phone or tablet running Android OS due to software, so you can apply these tips when you doubt the system is working properly.

• Reboot your device. Perhaps it was under heavy software load or a minor error occurred. Maybe the application just froze, but the sensor is working?

• Update the firmware. To do this, go to the following items: “Settings” – “About device” – “System updates” – “Check now”. More often than not, the problem is solved.
• Reset settings to factory defaults. Save all important data to a memory card, computer or similar storage device. Click “Settings” – “Memory” – “Reset to factory settings” – “Reset settings” – “Erase everything”. If necessary, confirm your choice. Wait a few minutes and the reboot will happen automatically

• What to do if the screen is glitchy? If it works but is slow, just clean the phone as a whole. Remove unnecessary files and applications and the cache (Settings - Applications - any application from the list - Clear cache). To remove other junk and clean up RAM, use CCleaner, Cleaner Master or another application.

How to fix your device

It is unlikely that you can fix your phone yourself. You will succeed when the problem is in the software. In this case, read the methods below.

1. Calibrate your screen. Depending on the manufacturer, there may be a built-in utility for this, or you may have to download the application yourself. There are several ways. For HTC models: “Settings” – “Language and keyboard” – “HTC Sense Input”. On other smartphones: “Settings” – “Display” – “Display” – “Screen calibration”. If desired, you can calibrate the screen through the engineering menu. It is used by developers to test and change system components. We do not recommend this method as it can cause problems and takes longer than other methods. A third-party screen calibration application from the Play Market can improve the display's response. For example, Touchscreen Calibration or SGS Touchscreen Booster (you can set parameters manually in it).
2. The bottom touch buttons on an Android phone do not work, what should I do? You can install an application to create soft buttons with the same functions, but in a different location. We recommend Back Button - it does not require root rights.

Contact the service center. There they will more accurately determine the cause and repair the device.

Problems with hardware often turn out to be much more complex and expensive than problems with software. It’s very disappointing if the screen falls off, but, as a rule, I can easily replace it. But the buttons can be a lot more fiddly. If you find yourself in a similar situation (click on Home, Back or Menu does not lead to any consequences), then the application will come to the rescue. After installing it, you will receive a panel consisting of 4 buttons: Home, Back, Menu And Resize. Make a note of what you need root access on the device.

After installing the application and launching it for the first time, you will receive a panel with buttons that will be located in the center of the screen. Its location can be changed; you can also adjust the size of the buttons, the distance between them and the transparency of the panel itself.

For button Home you can customize its behavior when pressed for a long time: either it will launch Google Now, or work as a button Power. Besides this Floating Soft Keys allows you to change button icons. If you want to choose a vertical panel layout, then to do this you just need to uncheck the box next to the horizontal layout option in the menu. There you can also enable the application to turn on when loading.

He behaves very smartly. If the panel overlaps any buttons or options of a running application, it automatically changes its location on the screen, but there is one drawback. After the application that caused the panel to change its position is closed, the panel itself will not be able to return to its old location. This will have to be done manually.

It would be nice if the developers upgraded the existing buttons with more functions and added volume control to them. But for now these are just dreams. If you are interested in such a practical thing as, and are already planning to download the application, then you

10.12.2017

• Android application Key remapping, version: 1.12.0, price: Free

It so happened historically that on smartphones it is more convenient for me to have the “Back” navigation button on the right. And on my BQ Aquaris U Plus it’s just on the left and reaching for it “oh, how inconvenient.” Getting used to it is not a problem, but it’s too late for my fingers to grow in length, and the inconvenience of getting used to it has not gone away. The smartphone manufacturer BQ Aquaris, unfortunately, did not provide a tool for changing the functionality of the navigation buttons, even on-screen ones, so we had to turn to third-party applications.

The most preferred application - GravityBox - did not cope with the task assigned to it. It allowed you to assign any action to pressing the “Back” and “Home” buttons, but it could not somehow influence the “Recent” button. There was a wild idea to completely block both the “Back” and “Recent” buttons, assigning all responsibilities to the remaining “Home” button, but GravityBox could not simply disable the “Recents” button. The Spaniards generally somehow protected their smartphones “from fools”, and, as far as I know, so far no one has been able to get system root rights on the stock firmware of these smartphones.

Leaving GravityBox alone, I turned to other software that specialized in reassigning the functionality of navigation buttons. In the battle with the software of the Spanish-Chinese gadget, only one software with the original name “Key Remapping” was able to win. I use it.

It has become popular among mobile software developers to divide their functionality into two unequal parts. The first part - free - allows you to use the software quite normally for its intended purpose. The second - paid - brings some additional functions and convenience. And this, I think, is correct. Likewise, the “Key Reassignment” application has both basic functions (reassignment of single short and long presses on up to two navigation buttons) and premium capabilities (assigning actions to button combinations, removing the limit on the number of reassignments). By the way, the latest version of the application got rid of advertising even in the free version.

What should be mentioned without fail is that root rights are not needed for the software to function. Recently, I began to notice that branded firmware has become more functional and customizable (we are not talking about AOSP), so root rights have become required less and less... And various payment services do not really like ROOT, although it can be hide. But that's another story...

The application interface is minimalistic.

The free version has only four controls. These are the three dots under which the settings are usually hidden. This is a switch for activating and deactivating the service. This is the “Quick disable” checkbox for displaying the application status on the notification panel (with the ability to pause/resume the service with a tap). And this is a round button with a plus sign for adding a new reassignment. There are actually no settings in this application, and when you click on the button with three dots, only one item appears - “About the program”.

To activate the service, you need to enable these special features for the application in the gadget settings in the “Special Features” section.

To disable the service, you need to do exactly the same steps, only the special features for the “Key Remapping” application should be turned off. Logical, isn't it? It’s very good that you don’t have to manually search for the above-mentioned “special” features in the jungle of system settings: the software itself will take you to the necessary points.

The ability to quickly deactivate an application (without going to system settings) appeared only in the latest version. Is it really needed? I don’t, but maybe someone will find it useful (needed). When you activate the "Quick disable" checkbox, a tile (bar?) dedicated to the "Reassign keys" software appears in the notification panel. By tapping on it you can quickly disable and enable active reassignments of the software.

The information part of the main and only window of the application is presented in two sections: “Premium features” and “Active reassignments”. For now, let's leave the first one alone and turn our attention to the second. Active reassignments are a list of reassignments completed at our request. In the free version, as already mentioned, only two reassignments are possible, but that was enough for me. I assigned the “Back” action to the “Recent Applications” button (in the application it is called “Recent Applications”, but the meaning is the same), that is, the functionality of the “Back” button. And for the "Back" button I assigned the action "Recent_Apps" ("Recent applications", presumably). Thus, the "Back" and "Recent Applications" buttons on my smartphone have swapped places. Hooray!

By the way, I learned about the software almost a year ago, but I only started using it about two months ago. Why is this so? Because not all button functionality was transferred to Android 6. That is, all of it, but only stock. Let me explain. A function such as going to the previous application by double tapping the “Recent Apps” button was implemented by the Google team only in Android Nougat. And Spanish developers from the BQ team implemented this in their smartphones and in Android Marshmallow. But when transferring the functionality of the “Recent Applications” button to the sixth Android using the described software, the double-tap processing was lost (it was not transferred to the new button, but disappeared on the old one), since it was, as it were, introduced from the outside. I didn’t want to lose such a convenient “trick,” so the “Reassigning Keys” software didn’t catch on with me back then. But I still couldn’t get used to the “Back” button on the left, so after switching to Nuga I tried to use the software again. And it was not in vain that I tried. Now the transition to the previous application via double-tap is also transferred to the new button along with the main action (“Recent applications”).

The procedure for adding a new reassignment is simple and straightforward; I think a couple of screenshots will be enough. I remove one of my reassignments (for the "Recent Apps" button) and add it again. After clicking on the add reassignment button, you must select a free or premium action. In the second case, you will be asked to pay money if this has not already been done.

I select "Short and long press". In the form that appears, I select the “Recent_Apps” button from the drop-down list, and the action for it is “Back”. I check the “Replaces standard action” checkbox, but on the contrary, I don’t check the “Long press” checkbox (after all, I need a reaction to a regular quick tap on the button). That's it, you can press "OK".

When you tap on an active reassignment, a completely similar form opens for changing the action (reassignment), supplemented with only one button - “Delete” - to delete the selected reassignment. When you long tap on an active reassignment, the context menu “Edit” and “Delete” is called up.

The lists of buttons and actions are truly huge. First, when you select, for example, a button, you see a list of seven buttons and the “Other” item. So, under this item there is a huge additional list, in which the buttons are represented by both official names (used in the code by the developers) and numerical and alphabetic representations.

You can connect an adult external keyboard (if your gadget can do this) and reassign all its keys to your taste. The same applies to possible actions, although here everything is a little reversed: the initial list consists of just over 20 actions, and the additional one (hidden under the “Other...” item) consists of only two lines (“Open application” and “Shortcut” ). As they say, small is the spool, but expensive: you can cram almost the entire functionality of your gadget into these two points.

There is also a limitation: when the screen is locked, button presses are not tracked by the software. There are both pros and cons here. The disadvantages include the impossibility of unlocking the screen with the selected button while simultaneously launching an application (Phone, for example). And the plus is that the software will not constantly eat up battery power while monitoring the status of the buttons.

The cost of the software (the cost of unlocking premium features) is $0.99, that is, a little less than sixty of our rubles.

After the purchase, the “Show application icon” checkbox becomes available, which allows you to hide the application icon from the list of all applications installed on the system (and even from the list of recent applications). To return the icon, you need to press the "Back" button (the system button, not the one assigned by the application) ten times in a row.

Well, the most important thing, but not everyone needs it, is the ability to use button combinations. This term hides three concepts: “Double click”, “Triple click” and “Two buttons”.

We are not interested in double and triple clicks, because they differ only slightly from quick and long presses. But using two buttons increases the number of various reassignments. I consider this already self-indulgence, but to some, the idea of ​​​​switching “Back” and “Recent” may also seem wild.

In addition, premium reassignments have one significant drawback - they do not replace system actions. That is, if I assign any desired action to a double tap on the volume up button, the sound volume will first increase, and only then the action I have specified will be performed. No, it is clear that a double tap should not completely cancel the system action (otherwise how can you adjust the volume?), but the developer needs to do something in this direction.

And one more thing: the action assigned to simultaneously pressing any two of the three touch buttons (“Home”, “Back”, “Recent applications”) has never worked for me. Mechanical - no problem, sensory - no problem. Either it’s something in the app or on my phone.

As a result, I can and recommend using the software on your smartphones, especially if you need to change the functionality of short presses to the buttons available on the gadget. Here the software works incredibly well. If you, like me, want to swap “Back” and “Recents”, then you don’t even have to buy the software: the free option is enough for your eyes. If you want to make more than two reassignments, then you can already sponsor the developer. But the rest of the premium functionality is not even worth the money they ask for it, IMHO.

That's all, good luck and health to you. Read Helpix.

Many people are familiar with the situation when you buy a new smartphone, but the physical power button does not have a photography function, nor is there a separate key for this, although the previous device had one and was a great help. At first glance, it’s a small thing, but your hands naturally reach for the mechanics, not the sensor, and at the most inopportune moment.

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First, let me introduce the test subjects. The first application is called “Key Reassignment”, at least in the Russian Google Play. It can work with both physical and touch controllers, but for some actions it requires root rights. The second participant will be Button Mapper, which can do the same thing, but does not require root rights at all, which is already interesting.

The test equipment used was:

• Tablet DEXP Ursus 8EV2 3G (Android 4.4.2, MT8382 processor, 4 x Cortex-A7 1.3 GHz, Mali-400 MP2 video core, 1 GB RAM, 4000 mAh battery, 3G module, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n );
• Smartphone Homtom HT3 Pro (Android 5.1 Lollipop, MT6735P processor, 4 x Cortex-A53 1.0 GHz, 64-bit, Mali-T720 video core, 2 GB RAM, 3,000 mAh battery, 4G module, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/ n).

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Overview of the Key Remapper app

The program has not been updated for a long time, but perhaps this is not necessary, since it can do everything that can be done with physical keys: assign any action, launch certain applications, disable buttons, and even prescribe combinations of presses to access special functions.

“Key remapping” only works with Android 4.3 or higher, is distributed free of charge and includes an interface translated into Russian. Thus, we obtain a kind of standard for such programs, which we will rely on in the future. Or maybe we won’t, because this is just a first impression.

Do not forget that the firmware of the device plays an important role, especially if it is modified, so there is no need to treat the program as a panacea.