One of the mutually annoying traits of both Android and iOS is the fact that one has to leave an app in order to change basic settings.
If you want to adjust the brightness, turn on Wi-Fi or place your device into Airplane Mode, you need to stop what you’re doing, go into settings, and adjust accordingly. For all the slick advertising of both Google and Apple, this is not what you’d call an example of a seamless experience, by any stretch of the imagination.
Thankfully, the third-party developer tends to fill in where the stock offerings lack, and TogglePanel by Seifsoft does exactly that in this case. Upon installing, you will be able to quickly and easily toggle settings and radios from the notification drop down panel, meaning you’ll never need to leave an app again.
If you’ve ever used the Cydia tweak SBSettings on an iOS device, this could be seen as an Android alternative to that. With a simple swipe of the status bar, one can toggle just about any setting, and has proved to be the most sought-after first app following a jailbreak.
Currently, TogglePanel’s list of toggles is none too expansive, offering Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi radio, Bluetooth radio, background sync, brightness and auto-rotation.
It also offers GPS, although as the developer points out, most Android devices only allow GPS to be toggled from within the System Settings, in-keeping with Android’s security policies. Your device falls under this umbrella, the GPS toggle will redirect you to the relevant screen.
In order to get started with TogglePanel, your device will need to be running Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0 or higher). Unfortunately, if your device is still languishing on Gingerbread, you’ll need to check out one of the decent alternatives, such as WidgetSoid.
More updates are promised in the near future, and we’d certainly say this app shows great promise. We’re always on the lookout for apps to make the Android experience just that little bit simpler, and TogglePanel certainly fits into that category.
It only costs a dollar, and will save you a lot of time whilst in-app, rendering it a good long-term investment.
Download TogglePanel for Android [Google Play Store Link]
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