Most of us know how to add homescreen shortcuts to apps that already exist on our phones – just open up the app drawer, hold down on an app icon until you grab it, then drag it over to the homescreen of your choice.
But maybe you want to create app-like shortcuts to specific folders, web pages, or your entire bookmark collection? If that’s the case, then you need to dig a little deeper. we’ll show you in this article how to create homescreen shortcuts for any Android app.
Create Homescreen Shortcuts for Websites
Creating a homescreen shortcut to a website is easy. If you’re using Chrome, just navigate to the website you want, tap the menu icon at the top-right and then tap “Add to home screen.”
Other browsers have similar functions. In Firefox it’s pretty much the same process except the feature is called “Add Page Shortcut.” Microsoft’s Edge browser has the same feature.
Create Homescreen Shortcut to Bookmarks Bar
If you use Chrome, you can create a widget featuring all your bookmarks on your Android homescreen.
Just tap and hold an empty space on the homescreen. When the Options show up, tap “Add apps and widgets” and then scroll down to “Chrome bookmarks.” This creates a resizable window with all your bookmarks on your homescreen.
Create Homescreen Shortcuts to Files and Folders
If you have important PDF documents that you want to access directly from your homescreen or certain folders that you want to keep on your homescreen Windows-style, then you can do that too.
Each smartphone manufacturer has their own file-manager app with slightly different functionality, so we’ll demonstrate this with the free and widely used ES File Explorer.
Once you have ES File Explorer, open it, navigate to the file or folder you want on your homescreen, tap and hold on the icon, and then in the menu that pops up select “Add to desktop.”
Use Apex Launcher
If you want to add more delicate shortcuts like direct call, direct message, or even to various phone Activities, you can switch to Apex Launcher. Apex Launcher comes with this “Add Shortcuts” feature and is available when you long-press on the home screen.
From there you can add shortcuts to almost anything to your homescreen.
Conclusion
You should now have an Android homescreen filled with shortcuts to everything you want. Just try not to get carried away.
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