When Google released Android 11 this September, one of the features that got me excited was the revamped power menu. It brought all the necessary controls like Shutdown, Restart, and Emergency mode to the top and made room for the rest of the space to house Google Pay cards and smart home controls. However, it did not serve a useful purpose for users who did not invest in the smart home ecosystem. If you’re looking for a way to customize Android 11’s power menu and add features you want to use, you’re in luck, as there’s an app called ‘Power menu controls’ that does just that.
Customize Android 11 Power Menu
Power Menu Controls, a new app from India-based developer Sayantan RC, known for its excellent performance custom ROM migration tool ‘Pass’. In this article, we will examine the features of this app and how you can use the app on your phone running Android 11.
Note: Power Menu Controls works with AOSP flavored versions of Android 11. It may not work on OEM builds of Android 11 that do not adopt Android 11’s power menu and use a custom app instead.
Permissions to Use Power Menu Controls
One surprising aspect of this app is, you can use the app without root access. For the app to work as intended, you must allow the following permissions:
- Show over other apps
- Change system settings
Apart from these, the app does not ask for any other unnecessary permissions which is great for those concerned about privacy.
Adjust Power Menu Controls
1. The first time you open the Power Menu Controls, the app will ask for the permissions mentioned above. Tapping the permission request will take you to the Settings page. Repeat this step to allow both permissions.
2. After granting the necessary permissions, enable all the features you need from the app. It’s worth noting that you can come back at any time and enable more features if needed.
3. Now that you’ve enabled all the necessary toggles, it’s time to add the app to the power menu. To do this, long press the power menu, tap the rectangular ‘Device controls’ buttonand Select ‘Power menu controls’. If you’re someone who has already added a few apps to the power menu, you’ll find the app in the ‘See other apps’ section on the same page.
4. The transitions you enabled in step two will appear on this page. Now you can further refine the controls you want in the power menu. Tap on the Save button after selecting all the required features.
5. That’s it. The next time you long press the power menu, you will see all the active toggles. You can tap the ellipsis (vertical ellipsis) button to rearrange the position of each tile.
Features of Power Menu Controls
Here are all the features you can enable using the Power Menu Controls app:
- Brightness and auto brightness toggles
- Toggles between Media volume, Alarm volume, Ringer volume
- full silence transition
- flash torch
- spin lock
- wakelock
- screen timeout
- battery percentage
Pro Tips for Maximizing the Efficiency of the Power Menu
Now that you know how to use the app, here is a pro tip you might miss while using the app. You can do long press any toggle button to expand the settings page as an overlay. For example, if you long-press the media volume toggle, you’ll have quick controls to adjust other audio modes.
Another point to be mentioned is, You won’t completely lose access to Google’s smart home controls when you use this app.. You can quickly switch between the Google Home controls and the Power menu controls from the drop-down list in the Power menu.
Use Power Menu Controls on your Android 11 Phone
So, here you are. While I think Google should add this flexibility as the default behavior, I’m happy with how neat customization apps like Power Menu Controls are available to help Android users get the most out of their Android phone. If you have any feature requests or suggestions for this app, let them XDA thread of the application. Also, if you found this app useful, don’t forget to tell us in the comments.
