These are my 5 favorite Android productivity features

As a smartphone reviewer, a good chunk of my day involves being on my phone. After all, how can I find what I like and dislike about the eighth or ninth budget Android phone of the year without actively using it? The only problem is that eventually, I must remember to put my phone down and actually write about it — sometimes easier said than done. Thankfully, though, Android is packed full of productivity features that help to reel me back in, and here are a few of my favorites.

I have to start with Focus Mode

There’s no better place to start while trying to be productive with my Android phone than Focus Mode. It’s not a new productivity feature — it’s been around since about 2019 — but it’s an incredibly reliable one. Focus Mode is also about as straightforward as a feature can be, tasked with pausing some of your more distracting apps and silencing their notifications.

For me, that usually means adding the games I reliably use to the Focus Mode no-fly zone, which grays them out in my app drawer and gives me a pop-up whenever I try to open them. I will, unfortunately, admit that I’ve fallen deep down the Pokemon TCG Pocket rabbit hole, which means I will hop into the game and try to open as many free packs as the day will allow me in hopes of completing another deck. It’s great for showing off to my younger cousins around the holidays but far less helpful when I have a to-do list that I can’t afford to push off.

Here’s how to set up Focus Mode for yourself:

1. Open the Settings app.
2. Scroll down to Digital Wellbeing and Parental Controls.
3. Choose Focus Mode under the Ways to Disconnect heading.
4. Select apps that you want to pause.
5. Press Turn On Now to activate Focus Mode.

When you decide you’ve had enough focusing and have earned yourself a break, pull down your notification shade and look for the Focus Mode pop-up.

Split Screen keeps me on top of Slack messages

While I primarily use Focus Mode to keep me focused on one task at a time, Android’s split-screen support comes in handy when multitasking. Since reviewing a phone often involves spending time away from my desk testing the camera, I often find myself trying to respond to emails while shooting Slack messages back and forth with colleagues. Sometimes, I even have to pull parts of those emails and send them over Slack to ensure that news events get the proper coverage.

When that happens, I essentially have two options: Either memorize the email and jump to a full-screen Slack interface to type out a message before I forget, or hop into Split Screen mode so that I can read and write at the same time. My photographic memory isn’t all that good, so I choose Split Screen almost every time. It’s a little harder to access on a phone than on a tablet, but the setup is still pretty simple. Here’s what to do:

1. Open your first app in full-screen mode.
2. Swipe up from the bottom edge of your screen to access Recent Apps.
3. Tap on the app icon at the top of your display.
4. Select Split Screen on the first app you want to use.
5. Choose a second app to complete your pairing.

From there, you can treat the two apps as one recent app, jumping back to the pairing any time until you quit out of it. Also, you can only use Split Screen mode with two equal halves, so you’ll have to think carefully about which app you need at the top and bottom of your display.

I use Quick Share, but only with myself

Up next is the Android answer to AirDrop: Quick Share. This Android productivity feature used to be called Nearby Share, but its purpose remains the same — it is an easy way to send files back and forth between Android phones, Chromebooks, and certain Windows laptops. Best of all, that cross-platform support gives Quick Share a leg up over the Apple-only AirDrop.

Surprisingly, I use Quick Share much differently than I’ve used AirDrop. Rather than sending photos back and forth between friends, I’ve found that Quick Share is the fastest way to get my battery drain test results from my phone of the week to my trusty Lenovo ThinkPad X1. From there, it’s just a hop, skip, and jump to get them uploaded to our comprehensive database to compare the muscles of the latest Motorola Moto G to those of the most recent Nothing Phone.

However, if you rely heavily on Quick Share, you should double-check your sharing settings. You can make yourself visible only to your own devices, contacts, or anyone nearby for a set period of time, and each has its benefits. I’ve largely kept myself to my own devices for safety purposes, but sharing between contacts helps when I’m home taking family photos around the holidays.

One-handed mode saves me time on the go

For me, one-handed mode falls into the same time-saving category as Split Screen mode — it’s all about making a big phone easier to use while away from my desk. We’re at a point where many Android phones I use throughout the year have displays larger than 6.5 inches, which is simply too big for me to stretch my hands across. So, when I’m out and about and need to bring something like a hamburger menu or a chat at the top of Slack into my reach, one-handed mode has become second nature.

Honestly, if you haven’t used one-handed mode on your Android phone yet, I’m impressed. A simple swipe down from the gesture pill at the bottom of your display can bring the highest parts of your screen into reach, which is a lifesaver for me. It’s an easy gesture to use, yet not as easy to activate as Apple’s Type to Siri gesture, which I constantly stumble into on accident.

When you’re done with one-handed mode, swipe back up on the gesture pill to restore your original layout.

Surprisingly, I’m starting to like Gemini, too

The last Android productivity feature that’s found its way into my heart is an unexpected one — I’m using Gemini more than I ever expected to. And yes, that might make it sound like I’m using Google’s writing tools to save time during the day, but it’s the opposite. As a writer, I want no part of Gemini when it comes to cooking up emails, scripts, or ideas for paragraphs within my articles — also known as the parts of my job I love the most.

Instead, I’ve started employing Gemini in my personal life to give myself more free time at the end of the day. Although I generally like to do my own research and planning when it comes to traveling, I’ve found that Gemini is pretty good at covering the broad strokes.

So, when I was gearing up to run the Philadelphia Marathon a few weeks back, I asked Gemini for some help with what else was happening in the city that weekend. It came back with a nice little list, which I could check through and see how close different events were to where I was staying. All told it took about 45 minutes for me to bounce through and make a plan for my weekend, whereas doing it by hand would have kept me distracted for part of the workday and then eaten up more time once I finished in the evening.

If nothing else, Gemini is a great reminder that productivity is more than just helping you get work done. It’s crucial to letting you enjoy the rest of your life, too — especially when you’re so sore that you can barely hobble your way around Philadelphia while you look for the portal in Love Park.

I’m sure there are more Android productivity features I’ve never even thought to use, but these are my favorites. Feel free to leave a few of your own down below and check out the latest price on a Pixel 9 Pro in case you want to grab a little Gemini for yourself.