Have you ever long-pressed an app icon and seen quick actions like “Search” or “New Message”?
These are App Shortcuts, a powerful feature that allows users to interact with your app faster and more efficiently.

In this guide, we’ll explore how to implement static app shortcuts in Android to enhance user experience.

What Are App Shortcuts?

App shortcuts provide quick access to common app features when the user long-presses your app icon.
Along with system options like App Info and Pause App, you can define your own custom shortcuts for essential actions.

📌 Example use cases:
✔ “Create Note” in a notes app (bypasses unnecessary navigation)
✔ “Search” shortcut (instantly opens search with keyboard focused)

Users can also pin shortcuts to their home screen for even faster access!

How It Looks on a Device

Static App Shortcut example

🚧 Limitations of Static App Shortcuts

🔹 Requires API level 25+ (Android 7.1 and above)
🔹 Maximum of 4 static shortcuts per app (to prevent misuse)

Since shortcuts are limited, choose only essential ones that improve UX!

🛠 Implementation Guide

The best part? Static shortcuts don’t require any dependencies—we just define them in XML.

1️⃣ Creating Shortcut Values

  1. Switch to Project View in Android Studio.
  2. Create a new folder in res/ named xml-v25.
  3. Inside res/xml-v25/, create a new file named shortcuts.xml.
  4. Add the following shortcut definition:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<shortcuts xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">

    <shortcut
        android:shortcutId="create_note_shortcut"
        android:enabled="true"
        android:shortcutShortLabel="@string/create_note"
        android:shortcutLongLabel="@string/create_note_description_for_shortcut"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_shortcut_create_note">

        <intent
            android:action="android.intent.action.VIEW"
            android:targetPackage="com.example.myapp"
            android:targetClass="com.example.myapp.MainActivity">

            <!-- Extra key to identify the shortcut action -->
            <extra android:name="content_key" android:value="_ssKey_create_note"/>
        </intent>

    </shortcut>
</shortcuts>

🔹 The content_key extra helps identify which shortcut was used, so we can handle it later.

⚠️ Since my app’s minimum supported version is API 24, i have to add it on the xml-v25 if your app’s minimum supported version is 25 or above you can add the shortcuts.xml directly to xml folder.

2️⃣ Adding to AndroidManifest.xml

Add the following inside your AndroidManifest.xml, before the closing </activity> tag:

<meta-data
    android:name="android.app.shortcuts"
    android:resource="@xml/shortcuts"/>

After adding this, your manifest should look like this:

<manifest xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
    <application
        android:allowBackup="false"
        android:icon="@drawable/ic_launcher_round"
        android:label="@string/app_name">

        <activity android:name=".MainActivity">
            <intent-filter>
                <action android:name="android.intent.action.MAIN" />
                <category android:name="android.intent.category.LAUNCHER" />
            </intent-filter>

            <!-- Registering the shortcut -->
            <meta-data
                android:name="android.app.shortcuts"
                android:resource="@xml/shortcuts"/>
        </activity>

    </application>
</manifest>

3️⃣ Handling Shortcut Logic in Code

When the user taps a shortcut, it launches the MainActivity with an extra content_key.
We can handle this in Kotlin:

val activity = LocalContext.current as MainActivity

// Check which shortcut was used
val shortcutCode = when {
    activity.intent.getStringExtra("content_key")?.contains("create_note") == true -> 1
    else -> 0  // Default: No shortcut used
}

// Handle shortcut action
LaunchedEffect(shortcutCode) {
    if (shortcutCode == 1) {
        navigateToNoteCreationScreen()
    }
}

📌 Shortcut Flow:
1️⃣ User long-presses the app icon and selects “Create Note”.
2️⃣ App opens directly in note creation mode (keyboard preloaded).
3️⃣ Saves 3+ clicks compared to manual navigation! 🚀

✅ Key Takeaways

✔ App Shortcuts improve UX by reducing navigation steps.
✔ Maximum of 4 static shortcuts per app (API 25+ required).
✔ Define shortcuts in res/xml-v25/shortcuts.xml.
✔ Use content_key in the intent to determine the shortcut action.

🔗 Implementation in My App

📌 Commit with Static App Shortcuts on Jot Notes

Hope this guide helps! Feel free to share your thoughts via my social handles. 😊

Thank you for reading! 🎉