How to change lock screen shortcuts on Android [Beginner’s Guide]

Well, the most frequently used app you have isn’t on the lock screen. To access the apps faster, Android has a shortcut provided on the lock screen and many phones have at least two shortcuts of the apps on the lock screen that includes a dialer app and a Camera app to open without unlocking the phone. Sometimes you are lazy enough to unlock the phone and open the app that you use the most. Be it Facebook, WhatsApp, or any other app, if you want to change lock screen shortcuts on your Android device, read our beginner’s guide below.

How to change lock screen shortcuts on Android

Before proceeding, I want you to check if the phone isn’t password or PIN protected. A password or PIN protected phone can get the lock screen shortcuts, however, the user has to unlock the phone to open the app. If that makes annoying, you can simply remove the security from the Settings. Anyways, follow the steps below to change the lock screen shortcuts.

Step 1: Open Settings menu on your phone from the homescreen or app drawer. You can also access settings from the notification bar which I usually do that. Access the Lock screen and security.

Step 2: Under Lock screen and security, go to Info and app shortcuts -> App shortcuts. 

Step 3: Now on this screen, you have the lock screen preview. There are two lock screen shortcuts. One for left, and one for the right. Select the left to change the left shortcut else select the right one. I will choose the left one just to show you this tutorial.

Step 4: Find the app that you want to put on the lockscreen as a shortcut. When you tap on the app, the preview screen will show you its location.

That’s it. Now simply press the power button to lock the phone and press again to see the lockscreen shortcuts.

If you cannot find the lockscreen settings, that means your phone’s software doesn’t let you do it. I did on a Samsung device and there are many devices out there that let you change lockscreen shortcuts. Comment below your phone model to see whether it supports the lockscreen shortcuts or not. We will help you.

Visit our How-To Guides to see our other guides.