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1. Getting Started & Permissions

Direct Answer: One Hand Control requires Android's Accessibility Service permission to capture touch gestures along the edges of your screen and perform navigation actions (such as Back, Home, or opening Quick Settings). It requires zero internet permissions.

Granting Accessibility Permission

  1. Launch One Hand Control after installing from Google Play.
  2. Select your preferred app language from the initial prompt (13 languages supported).
  3. When prompted, tap Enable Service to open Android's system Accessibility settings.
  4. Locate One Hand Control under Installed Apps / Downloaded Services.
  5. Toggle the switch to On and confirm the Android system dialog.
Privacy Note: One Hand Control uses Accessibility access strictly on-device to detect touches in your configured edge zones and execute your chosen shortcuts. The app does not declare the INTERNET permission and cannot transmit screen content or personal data.

2. Guided Setup & Interactive App Tour

Direct Answer: New installations feature a full-screen guided setup that helps you choose active edges, adjust indicator colors, test haptic feedback, and safely practice gestures before actions are executed live. An extended 8-step Interactive App Tour is also available anytime.

Key onboarding features:

  • Curated Starting Action: Choose your default Pull Inward action from Back, Home, Recents, Screenshot, or Volume Up.
  • Foreground Gesture Sandbox: Safely practice your edge gestures inside an interactive training area that visualizes touches without triggering background apps.
  • Interactive App Tour: An 8-step coachmark tour covering Edges, Appearance, and Settings with synchronized tab switching and LazyColumn scrolling. Replay it anytime from Settings > Support & access > Interactive App Tour.
  • App Tutorial Replay: Replay the introductory guided setup or floating panel video previews from Settings > Support & access > App tutorial replay.

3. How to Make Both Edges Work in Landscape Mode

Direct Answer: Go to the Edges tab, tap Global Layout at the top, find the Orientation dropdown, and choose Both. When set to Both, you can also set independent length sliders for portrait and landscape.

By default, new edge zones are configured in Portrait mode so they do not conflict with full-screen games or video players. You can easily make left, right, or bottom edges active in landscape using either the global editor or per-zone settings:

Method A: Global Orientation (Applies to all edges at once)

  1. Open One Hand Control and select the Edges tab in the bottom bar.
  2. Tap the Global Layout (or Size & Position) card at the top of the list.
  3. Locate the Orientation option. Tap it and select Both (options are Portrait, Landscape, and Both).
  4. When Both is selected, a compact length selector appears allowing you to set separate Portrait Length and Landscape Length values.
  5. Tap Save or navigate back. Edge gestures will now remain active when you rotate your phone into landscape.

Method B: Per-Zone Orientation (Configure a specific edge)

  1. In the Edges tab, tap on the specific edge card you want to adjust (e.g., Left Edge or Right Edge).
  2. Tap Layout / Size & Position.
  3. Scroll down to the Orientation dropdown.
  4. Change the value from Portrait to Both (or Landscape if you only want that edge active in landscape).
  5. Adjust the landscape length and position if needed.
Pro Tip: Setting a slightly shorter landscape length (e.g. 18% to 22%) keeps edge gestures comfortable to trigger in landscape while leaving plenty of room for game controls and thumb rests.

4. Edge Zones, Split Zones & Action Sync

Direct Answer: One Hand Control supports Left, Right, Bottom, and Notch edges. Side edges can also be split into upper and lower zones (Zone 1 and Zone 2), allowing twice as many gesture mappings along the same side. Action Sync lets you mirror mappings between left and right edges.

Configuring Split Side Zones

  1. Open the Edges tab and select either Left Edge or Right Edge.
  2. Enable the Split zone toggle.
  3. Zone 1 becomes the upper touch zone and Zone 2 becomes the lower touch zone.
  4. Tap Size & Position to set independent vertical positions (for example, 30% for Zone 1 and 70% for Zone 2).
  5. Tap Map gestures for each zone to assign actions independently. Note: When split zones are enabled, Zone 1 reserves pull gestures to prevent conflicts while retaining taps and vertical swipes.

Left / Right Action Sync

In the Edges tab, you can enable Sync left and right actions. The app asks you to select your preferred copy direction (Right from Left or Left from Right). Once enabled, gesture changes made on one side automatically update the opposite side, saving setup time.

5. Custom Pull Sectors (Advanced Side-Edge Angles)

Direct Answer: Custom Pull Sectors is an advanced feature in the Edges tab for side edges. It replaces standard inward and diagonal pull rows with 1 to 7 customizable angle sectors over an inward arc, complete with movable divider angles, wedge color pickers, and sector-crossing haptic feedback.

For users who want more than three pull directions from a single edge zone:

Enabling and Customizing Pull Sectors

  1. Go to the Edges tab, tap a side edge card, and open Map gestures.
  2. Toggle on Advanced pull sectors.
  3. Choose the number of sectors (from 1 up to 7 sectors).
  4. Drag the semicircle divider angle handles to adjust sector boundaries (e.g. make the center sector wider and corner sectors narrower).
  5. Tap individual sector preview wedges to assign custom RGB indicator colors per sector.
  6. Enable Show sector numbers in the pull bubble to visually confirm your active angle during a swipe.
  7. Enable Sector-crossing haptics to feel a crisp physical click whenever your thumb crosses from one sector into another.
One Hand Control - Custom Pull Sectors Radial Arc Menu Mockup

Figure 5.1: Custom Pull Sectors showing multi-colored directional action wedges arranged along an ergonomic thumb arc.

6. Gesture Timing, Touch Priority & Cancellation

Direct Answer: In Settings > Controls, gesture tuning provides calibrated sliders for swipe threshold, multi-tap interval, and hold timeout, plus Return to Start cancellation and Android touch priority.
Setting Description & Behavior
Touch Priority Enabled by default. Requests Android system gesture exclusion for side edges so One Hand Control gestures take precedence over native Android back gestures. Honored up to Android's 200dp vertical cap per side.
Swipe Threshold Configures the minimum distance (in dp) your thumb must travel before a directional swipe is recognized.
Multi-Tap Interval Adjustable in 50ms steps. Sets the maximum duration allowed between consecutive taps for double and triple taps.
Hold Timeout Adjustable in 50ms steps. Governs the activation delay for swipe-and-hold and long-press gestures.
Hold Actions on Release Off by default. When enabled, hold gestures execute only when you lift your finger rather than executing immediately when the timer expires.
Return to Start Cancellation Available when hold-actions-on-release is on. If you begin a directional hold gesture but slide your thumb back toward the edge before lifting, the pending action is cancelled safely.
Haptic Feedback Global on/off switch with calibrated Light, Balanced, and Strong vibration strengths, and Single or Double pulse patterns.

7. How to Pause Edges in Games or Specific Apps

Direct Answer: Go to the Settings tab, scroll down to the Controls section, and tap Pause Rules. Select Pause on selected apps (Pro), check your game from the list, and pick which edges to pause (All, Left, Right, Notch, or Bottom).

To ensure edge gestures never interfere with gaming controls or media apps, One Hand Control provides flexible, automatic pause rules:

Step-by-Step Instructions to Pause in Games:

  1. Open One Hand Control and navigate to the Settings tab.
  2. Under the Controls header, tap Pause Rules (or type "Pause" into the Settings search bar).
  3. Tap Pause on selected apps. A list of all installed applications will appear.
  4. Find and check the game(s) or apps where you want edge gestures disabled.
  5. Select which edge zones to pause:
    • All: Completely removes all edge overlays while the game is in the foreground.
    • Right / Left: Pauses only the right or left edge, leaving the other side active.
    • Notch / Bottom: Pauses top or bottom edge controls.
  6. Launch your game. One Hand Control will immediately suppress gestures and restore them as soon as you exit back to the home screen or another app.

Free Pause Rules: Lock Screen & Home Screen

All users (including Starter Free) can automatically pause gestures on:

  • Pause on lock screen: Prevents accidental pocket touches when your display turns on.
  • Pause on home screen: Leaves your default launcher completely untouched.

Keyboard Auto-Collision Detection

One Hand Control is keyboard-aware by default. When the software keyboard opens, any colliding portion of the edge overlay automatically becomes touch-through so your typing is never blocked. You can toggle this behavior with the Edges active over keyboard setting in Settings > Controls.

8. In-Depth Quick Tools Configuration & Settings

Direct Answer: Quick Tools is a Pro floating control-center panel triggered by any edge gesture. It combines interactive brightness and volume sliders, a full media controller with album art, live status indicators, and up to 12 customizable app/shortcut/action slots with Material You styling.

Assigning Quick Tools to an Edge Gesture

  1. Go to the Edges tab and select an edge zone (e.g. Right Edge Zone 1).
  2. Tap Map gestures.
  3. Select a gesture (such as Pull inward & hold or Swipe up).
  4. In the Action Picker, choose Quick Tools under Floating Panels.

In-Depth Settings Breakdown

To customize Quick Tools, tap the gear icon beside Quick Tools in the action picker, or open it from Appearance > Assigned action appearance > Quick Tools:

Feature How It Works & Options
Interactive Brightness Slider Drag the slider track to manually set system brightness. Tap the Sun icon to toggle between Automatic Brightness and Manual mode. The sun icon adopts your active accent color when auto mode is active.
Interactive Volume Slider Drag the slider track to adjust media stream volume. Tap the Speaker icon to mute the media volume immediately; tap it again to restore the exact previous volume level.
Media Player Pod Displays now-playing song title, artist, album art, playback controls (Previous, Play/Pause, Next), and 15-second skip backward/forward buttons. You can toggle Show media controls and Show media progress independently. Requires notification listener permission.
Custom Shortcut Grid Add up to 12 items (apps, app shortcuts, system actions, or recorded macros). Long-press and drag rows inside settings to reorder their position.
Live Status Indicators Quick Tools circles for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Mobile Data, Location, Flashlight, Auto-rotate, and Do Not Disturb display active system state live without adding polling lag.
Panel Opacity Adjust glass transparency from 25% (very translucent) to 100% (solid dark glass). Default is 85%.
Colors & Material You Sync Choose custom RGB colors for panel background, icons, and sliders, or enable Material You sync to automatically adopt Android's dynamic system color palette.
Dismissal & Pass-Through By default, tapping outside Quick Tools dismisses the panel. Enable Keep open on outside tap if you prefer the panel to stay open while your touches pass through to the underlying app.
Position Memory Quick Tools is freely draggable on screen. Enable position memory in Settings > Controls to have it reopen at your last dragged coordinate.
One Hand Control - Quick Tools Control Center Panel Mockup

Figure 8.1: Floating Quick Tools panel featuring brightness and volume sliders, media playback, system switches, and app shortcuts.

9. Quick Access Radial Fan & Floating Launcher

Direct Answer: Quick Access opens a curved radial fan of your most frequent apps, shortcuts, and actions anchored to where your finger triggered the edge gesture.
  • Two Configurable Sets: Supports Set 1 and Set 2 with up to 12 items per set, selectable per gesture mapping.
  • Runtime Drag Reordering: Long-press and drag any icon inside the live panel to rearrange your items on the fly.
  • Visual Styling: Translucent arc background with adjustable opacity, arc color, and optional Android window blur support.
  • Arc Geometry: Customize fan arc amount and reach distance to match your thumb size.

10. Floating App Launcher (Search & Pinning)

Direct Answer: The Floating App Launcher opens a searchable card containing installed apps, shortcuts, and actions. It includes a dedicated top section for up to 24 pinned favorites, direct shortcut search, and optional automatic keyboard popup.

Key App Launcher Features:

  • Pin / Unpin with Long-Press: Long-press any app, action, or shortcut icon in the launcher to instantly toggle its pinned state. Pinned items move to the prominent top grid.
  • Shortcuts in Search: Type to find installed apps as well as saved shortcuts (e.g. direct contacts, navigation destinations). Press Enter to launch the first visible search result immediately.
  • Show Keyboard on Open: An advanced option under launcher preferences automatically focuses the search bar and raises the keyboard upon opening for lightning-fast typing.
  • Compact Mode: Option to display only your pinned items in a clean, compact floating card.

11. Remote Cursor & Touch Pad (One-Thumb Reach)

Direct Answer: Remote Cursor (Pro) and Floating Touch Pad are ergonomic accessibility tools for large screens. Remote Cursor steers a virtual pointer across the entire screen using a small thumb steering pad, with velocity assist, throw dismissal, and triple-tap reset.

Remote Cursor vs Floating Touch Pad

While both tools assist one-handed operation on tall displays, they have distinct designs:

  • Remote Cursor: The pad appears directly at your edge trigger point. Thumb motion steers the cursor relative to your touch with smooth radial assist, and a flick of the thumb pad dismisses both windows immediately.
  • Floating Touch Pad: A moveable laptop-style trackpad rectangle with an always-visible cursor. Supports tap-to-click, hold-to-drag, and double-tap-then-drag swipe replay. Always passes outside taps through.

Remote Cursor Advanced Settings

  • Calibrated Steering Gain: 50% to 120% thumb speed slider (100% default) with velocity curves.
  • Radial Assist: Smoothly dampens speed as the cursor approaches the pad (down to 35%) and accelerates away during escape, preventing thumb crowding.
  • Throw to Dismiss: A quick flick of your thumb pad (at least 8dp movement at 160dp/s) dismisses the cursor immediately without waiting for a timeout.
  • Triple-Tap Re-center: Three rapid taps immediately re-centers the cursor adaptively above the pad with tactile haptic feedback.
  • Top Edge Shortcut: Pushing the cursor past the physical top edge of your screen pulls down the notification shade or Quick Settings.
  • Inactivity Timeout: Automatically closes after 1 to 30 seconds of inactivity, or choose "Keep open until outside tap".

12. 3-Zone Bottom Navigation Replacement

Direct Answer: 3-Zone Bottom Gestures divides the bottom width of your display into three equal physical thirds (Left, Center, Right), replacing Android's traditional navigation bar with customizable edge gestures.

Enabling 3-Zone Bottom Navigation

  1. Go to the Edges tab and select Bottom Edge.
  2. Enable the edge. On first activation, select 3 zones from the setup chooser.
  3. The bottom width is divided into Left, Center, and Right zones. By default:
    • Left Third: Pull inward = Recent Apps
    • Center Third: Pull inward = Home
    • Right Third: Pull inward = Back
  4. Each segment independently supports Tap, Double Tap, Long Press, Pull Inward, and Extended Pull.
  5. Tap Replay Pass-Through: Any unassigned Tap is automatically replayed at its original coordinates so buttons underneath remain fully functional.

13. Notch Edge & Cutout Actions

Direct Answer: Notch Edge (Pro) places an interactive touch zone along the top display edge directly over your front camera cutout, turning it into a shortcut trigger for Notch Apps, Notch Media, or a Notch Timer.
  • Placement Setup: On first enable, an interactive placement screen lets you align the touch bar vertically (0 to 72dp offset) and horizontally over your camera cutout.
  • Notch Apps: Opens a centered stadium capsule containing quick app and shortcut icons directly below the camera.
  • Notch Media: Compact top controller showing artwork, track information, seek bar, and playback buttons.
  • Notch Timer: Quick 30s, 1m, and 5m countdown timer with pause, resume, and haptic completion alerts.

14. Page Scroll & Media Seek (Continuous Gestures)

Direct Answer: Page Scroll and Media Seek are continuous Pro hold actions. Page Scroll scrolls through long articles and PDFs automatically, while Media Seek scrubs through audio/video playback directly from the screen edge.

Page Scroll

  • How it works: Triggered from any hold gesture. Moving your finger slightly up or down triggers continuous, repeated accessibility scrolling.
  • Speed Tiers: Features slow and fast scrolling tiers (680ms and 260ms cadences) with pause and reversal hysteresis.
  • Visual Feedback: Displays a borderless, non-touchable dark pill with accent arrows indicating scroll direction.

Media Seek

  • How it works: Available on hold gestures. Maps a full horizontal drag across the screen to the complete duration of currently playing media.
  • Target Bubble: Shows a compact timestamp bubble with current and target time. Commits playback position upon finger release.
One Hand Control - Pop-Up Media Controller Mockup with Album Artwork

Figure 14.1: Floating media player showing dynamic album art tinting, track scrubber bar, and quick skip controls.

15. Extra Dim: Sub-Zero Night Screen Filter

Direct Answer: Extra Dim applies an accessibility overlay dimming filter that drops brightness below Android's hardware minimum without washing out OLED contrast or interfering with edge gestures.
  • Shade Intensity: 10% to 95% intensity slider with independent warm amber tint (0% to 100%).
  • Automated Daily Scheduling: Set custom Start and Stop times to have Extra Dim turn on automatically at night.
  • Quick Settings Tile: Add the One Hand Control Extra Dim tile to your Android notification shade for one-tap toggling.

16. Gesture Macros & System Automation

Direct Answer: Macro recording lets you record coordinate taps, swipes, and delays across any app, then replay the sequence automatically via an edge gesture, Quick Tools, or App Launcher.

Settings Switch Automation (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Mobile Data, Location)

One Hand Control provides fast, user-triggered system switches without requiring root or Shizuku. When you invoke Toggle Wi-Fi, Mobile Data, Bluetooth, or Location:

  1. One Hand Control briefly opens the corresponding Android Settings page.
  2. It examines the application window to confidently locate the unique master switch.
  3. It dispatches a single click to toggle the switch and immediately executes a guarded Back action to return to your previous app.
  4. If an unrecognized OEM confirmation prompt appears, One Hand Control safely leaves the screen open for you to complete manually.

Mute / Restore Volume Action

The Mute action features a gear icon in the Action Picker allowing you to choose your mute target: All Audio, Media only, Ringtone only, or Notifications only. Invoking it mutes the chosen stream; invoking it again restores the exact previous volume level.

17. Appearance, Theming & Icon Packs

Direct Answer: In the Appearance tab, customize Light and Dark themes, choose accent colors (default light accent is #251D1D Charcoal for new users), toggle Material You dynamic sync, choose launcher icon styles (White, Dark, Donor icons), and apply third-party icon packs.
  • App Icon Theme Selector: Choose between the clean default White app icon or the Dark app icon. Dedicated supporters unlock donor-exclusive launcher icons (Silver, Gold, Diamond, Ruby).
  • Installed Icon Packs: Select any compatible icon pack installed on your device (Nova, Lawnchair, etc.). It applies seamlessly to app icons in Quick Tools, App Launcher, Quick Access, and Notch Apps with zero internet permissions.
  • Material You Dynamic Accents: On Android 12+, Pro users can adopt Android's system dynamic colors across edge indicators, sliders, Quick Tools, and pull animations.

18. Configuration Presets, Backup & Restore

Direct Answer: Save and export complete app configuration snapshots to JSON files without requiring storage permissions. Pro users receive bundled "Dev Setup" and "Starting Pack" presets.

Under Settings > Presets & Backup:

  • Save Preset: Store up to multiple named snapshots locally on your device.
  • Show Preset Picker: Map this action to an edge gesture to open an arc wheel of your presets and switch setups on the fly.
  • Export / Import: Exports your configuration using Android's system document picker. When imported onto a different device, device-specific shortcuts and apps are sanitized safely while keeping all gestures and layout settings intact.

19. Troubleshooting & Keeping the Service Running

Direct Answer: If One Hand Control stops working or edge indicators disappear, your phone's aggressive OEM battery saver has likely killed the background accessibility service. Setting the app's battery usage to "Unrestricted" and locking it in recent apps resolves this.

Device-Specific Instructions

Samsung (One UI)

  1. Go to Settings > Apps > One Hand Control > Battery and select Unrestricted.
  2. Go to Settings > Device Care > Battery > Background usage limits and add One Hand Control to Never sleeping apps.
  3. Open your Recent Apps screen, tap the One Hand Control icon at the top of its card, and select Lock this app.

Xiaomi, Redmi & POCO (MIUI / HyperOS)

  1. Long-press the One Hand Control app icon and tap App Info.
  2. Enable Autostart and allow background autostart.
  3. Under Battery Saver, choose No Restrictions.
  4. In the Recent Apps screen, long-press the One Hand Control card and tap the Padlock icon to lock it.

OnePlus, Oppo & Realme (OxygenOS / ColorOS)

  1. Go to Settings > Battery > More settings > App battery management > One Hand Control.
  2. Enable Allow background activity and Allow auto-launch.
  3. Lock the app in your recent tasks switcher.

Google Pixel & Motorola (Clean Android)

  1. Go to Settings > Apps > One Hand Control > App battery usage.
  2. Select Unrestricted.

20. Privacy, Security & Permissions

Direct Answer: One Hand Control does not declare the INTERNET permission in its Android manifest. It operates 100% locally on your device with no trackers, no telemetry, and no remote servers.
Permission Why It Is Used
BIND_ACCESSIBILITY_SERVICE Draws touch overlays, detects edge gestures, and executes navigation actions (Back, Home, Recents, Notifications).
WRITE_SETTINGS Allows brightness and auto-rotation toggle actions. Requested only if you map those actions.
VIBRATE Provides tactile haptic pulse feedback when gestures are recognized.
MODIFY_AUDIO_SETTINGS Adjusts media, ringtone, and notification volume streams for slider and mute actions.
ACCESS_NOTIFICATION_POLICY Toggles Do Not Disturb mode when mapped to an action.
Notification Listener (Optional) Reads now-playing song title, artist, and album art for Quick Tools and Media Controller popups. Completely optional.

21. Free vs Pro Pricing & Restoring Purchases

Direct Answer: One Hand Control provides a full-featured Starter Free tier with left and right edges, portrait and landscape support, and Extra Dim. Pro unlocks unlimited actions, Quick Tools, Remote Cursor, 3-zone bottom navigation, Notch Edge, and macros via Monthly, Yearly, or Lifetime options through Google Play.
  • Starter Free: Up to 6 unique basic actions across left/right edges, portrait/landscape orientation, Extra Dim night screen filter, lock screen and home screen pause rules.
  • Pro Edition: Unlimited mappings, selected-app/game pause rules, Quick Tools floating control center, Remote Cursor with throw dismiss, 3-zone bottom navigation replacement, Notch Edge and actions, custom macros, settings backup and restore, and Material You dynamic color sync.
  • Restoring Purchases: Handled securely via Google Play Billing. Reinstalling or switching devices restores your Pro purchase automatically when signed in with the same Google Play account.