Android Magazine Issue 54 - 2015 UK.pdf

Tutorials
Apps used » MRU (Most Recently Used) Works with » Android 5.0 and up
Get an Android M-like
Most Recently Used bar
Quickly access your latest apps with the
nifty MRU widget
When Android M arrives this autumn, it will
include a new-look app drawer that allows
you to quickly open your recently used apps.
If you can’t wait that long for super-fast
navigation around your phone, you can try
this feature today by installing the MRU (Most
Recently Used) widget on your homescreen.
MRU isn’t quite the same as the Android M
feature, but this widget updates in real-time,
showing you the last five apps you used so you
are never too far away from your favourite or
most commonly-used apps. It also means that
you don’t need to clutter up your homescreen
with lots of shortcut icons, leaving it free
for more visually interesting widgets and
wallpapers. This tutorial will show you how to
get the bar and what it looks like once it is
installedonyourmobile.
“ The widget shows the
last five apps used”
Getyourperfectlook
Androidisallaboutbeingtogetherbutnotthe
same,soherearesomepersonalisationoptionsto
makeyourMRUwidgetperfectforyou
Press to activate
To add the widget to the home
screen, press and hold the
screen. You will see a menu
option to add widgets. Tap on
that and it will bring up a list of
widgets. Find MRU and add it to
your home screen.
View the favourites
As you use an app it appears on the
bar, with your most recently-used
one on the far left, pushing all the
others one space to the right. This
can be changed in the Settings but
it probably isn’t worth doing so.
Layout options
You can edit the number of apps
that appear on the widget. You can
set it to show between one and
seven apps per row and between
one and five columns. If you don’t
have much space on your home
screen you can scroll up and down.
Go pro
The premium version costs £1.51
and gives you the option of a making
the background bar transparent,
increasing the number of colours,
the number of apps per row, and
columns that you can have. It also
enables you to change the
orientation of the widget.
Change your
background
If the white background
doesn’tfitinwithyour
colour scheme, there is a
Style section in the
Settings where you can
taponBackground
Colour and have an
enormous range of colour
optionstoselectfrom.
Styleyourlabels
If you’ve changed the
background bar colour,
you might also want to
change the label text.
Head into the Style
settings and scroll to
Label Colour. Change it to
whatever you want and
the names of your apps
will duly change.
Icon size
If you want lots of your
most recently-used apps
to be on your screen but
are a bit pushed in terms
of available screen space,
you can alter the size of
each icon. In the Style
settings, tap on Icon Size
and then make your
alterations to suit.
Ban apps
There may be certain apps you don’t
want appearing on your home
screen. Luckily, you can add those
apps to a blacklist so even if you
have used them, they won’t appear
on your bar. These are added with a
single tap in the Settings.
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