Over the past years, there have been many applications that tried to create quick-launch shortcuts on our Android phones. Very few got it right however, and that’s why we saw entrepreneurs wanting to add an actual physical button to the phone — i.e. Pressy and its many rip-offs. Going back to software, QuickClick is one of the better solutions to the problem, and here’s what it does.

QuickClick uses a sequence of volume button clicks to launch an app or start a specific process. These include toggling the flashlight, recording audio, taking a photo, making a phone call, sending a message and more. QuickClick features one landing screen that lists all your actions and lets you activate or deactivate them as you wish. If you want to add an action, you’ll be taken through a guided process of picking what you want to do, configuring it, and setting the volume clicking sequence.

Sequences can include up to 6 volume up or down presses, and the configuration screen is interesting and exhaustive. For example, if you pick to launch the camera, you can choose whether or not you want the flash LED and/or Auto-Focus. The app even has master settings for when it should be listening for volume clicks, including screen on/off, music playing or not, and more.

QuickClick is quite easy to set up, albeit slightly sensitive to trigger. If you press the volume keys too quickly or slowly in succession, you risk the app not detecting it. You may have to master the art of rhythm for this one to work, but otherwise, it’s quite a cool and free utility to try.