iOS 14 introduced a neat control gesture called Back Tap. It lets you activate certain functions just by tapping the back of your iPhone. Now you can bring this very functionality to your Android phone thanks to a third-party app.
This guide shows how you go about setting up and using back tap gestures on your Android device.
What Brings Back Tap Gestures to Android?
There’s a free app called Tap, Tap that brings the back tap feature to Android devices. The app works pretty much the same way as the iPhone’s built-in Back Tap feature.
If you’ve been using an iPhone and have moved to Android, this app will fill the back tap gestures gap for you. That is, of course, until Android decides to make this a system feature.
How to Set Up Tap, Tap on Android
Tap, Tap isn’t yet available on the Google Play Store, and so you’re going to have to sideload the app on your Android device. This is fairly easy to do and all you need is a web browser and some tweaking on your phone.
The following covers how to download and configure Tap, Tap on your phone.
1. Sideload the Tap, Tap App
The first thing to do is to install the Tap, Tap app on your phone.
- On your Android device, head into Settings > Apps & notifications > Special app access > Install unknown apps and tap your web browser.
- Enable the Allow from this source option. This lets your browser install apps on your device.
- Launch your browser, head over to the Tap, Tap page, and download the app’s APK file to your phone.
- Tap the downloaded file, select Install, and then tap Open.
2. Configure the Back Tap Feature on Android
Now that the app’s installed, let’s configure some of its options:
- Tap Get started on the first screen.
- The app will ask you to double-tap the back of your device. Do that, and then tap Next.
- Select Enable Service on the following screen. Then, choose Tap, Tap and turn on the Use service toggle. Make sure to hit Allow in the prompt.
- To prevent your system from killing Tap, Tap while it’s running in the background, you need to disable battery optimization for the app. To do this, tap Disable Battery Optimization followed by Allow.
3. Set Up Double-Tap Actions
Tap, Tap offers both double-tap and triple-tap actions. Let’s first take a look at how you can configure the double-tap actions.
An action is the task that the app needs to run when you tap the back of your phone. You can create as well as customize your own tasks, and here we show how you add your first task in this app.
- Tap Double Tap Actions on the main screen.
- Hit Add Action in the bottom to add a new action.
- Select the type of action you want to add. You can view further options once you’ve tapped an option here. We’ll choose Launch which launches an item on the phone.
- Select what to launch on the resulting screen. We’ll tap Launch app to launch an app.
- Choose the app you’d like to launch from the list.
- Once your action is created, drag and put it at the top in the list. This ensures it always gets priority when you double-tap the back of your phone.
Actions come with something called requirements. A requirement is basically a condition that must be met in order for your action to run, such as the lock-screen being visible. It enables you to limit when your taps will work.
You can specify various conditions for your actions from within the actions panel. Here’s how:
- Tap Add requirement beneath your action.
- Select one of the several predefined conditions from the list. Each requirement is self-explanatory so you know what they do.
- You can add a secondary requirement by tapping Add next to the first requirement.
4. Set Up Triple-Tap Actions
You can configure triple-tap actions in pretty much the same way as you did double-tap actions. The only thing that differs here is that you need to tap the back of your phone three times instead of two.
To enable and use triple-tap actions:
- Tap Triple Tap Actions on the main app interface.
- Turn on Enable Triple Tap at the top.
- Tap Add Action in the bottom to add a new action.
- Select an action type to continue.
- Once you’ve added an Action, tap Add requirement if you’d like to add a condition for the action. This is optional, though.
5. Enable and Disable Gates
Gates are similar to requirements, only they're app-wide rather than action-wide. They control when the app itself will work.
For instance, you can add a gate that prevents actions from running when the phone is connected via USB. This gate will be applicable to all the actions in the app.
To use gates in Tap, Tap:
- Select Gates on the main screen.
- You have several predefined gates to use. You can enable and disable these as per your requirements.
- If you want to add your own gate, tap Add Gate in the bottom.
- Choose a gate you want to add from the list.
How to Disable Back Tap Gestures on Android
You don’t need to uninstall the app to remove the back tap gesture feature. Tap, Tap has a built-in option called Enable Gesture, and you can turn this off to turn off all the gestures of this app on your device.
When you’re ready again, you can enable the option to resume your gestures.
What Are Some Useful Back Tap Gestures to Use on Android?
This totally depends on what you use on your phone. If you launch certain tasks or apps frequently, you can make them launch using a back tap gesture.
Here are some generic ideas to help you get started.
Flashlight
Launching the flashlight on your phone is already easy, but you can make it even easier with a back tap gesture. Simply add a gesture to launch the flashlight, and all you’ll need to do is double-tap your phone’s back to light up your room.
Replace Broken Buttons
Tap, Tap can simulate the functions of your physical buttons. This way, if a button isn’t working on your phone, you can use that button’s functionality via a back tap gesture using this app.
Music Controls
It’s convenient to be able to switch your music tracks by simply tapping the back of your phone. This way, if you’re working or you’re exercising, you don’t need to touch the screen of your phone to go to the next or previous music track.
Make Android Even More Convenient to Use With Back Tap Gestures
Back tap gestures aren’t exclusive to iOS. With Tap, Tap you can bring the iPhone’s convenience of launching apps and tasks to your Android device without any cost or hassle.
Back tap gestures are among the growing number of ways to control your phone more easily. You can even go fully hands-free now, by controlling your phone with your voice only.
