This app turns Motorola’s locked-down AI key into a button you’ll actually use

Motorola has been quietly giving Android fans more reasons to pay attention lately, from a cleaner software experience and longer support promises to its upcoming embrace of GrapheneOS. But one part of the experience still feels unnecessarily locked down: the dedicated AI key on some of its phones. Motorola largely decides what that button can do, but a new unofficial app called MotoKey Plus is giving users the kind of control Android hardware is supposed to offer.

MotoKey Plus effectively turns Motorola’s AI key into a programmable shortcut button. According to a changelog the developer shared on Reddit, its latest major update adds separate actions for a single press, double press, and press-and-hold, while using hardware-level routing that the developer says suppresses Motorola’s built-in actions to prevent conflicts.

That opens up considerably more possibilities. You can assign the button to Gemini, the flashlight, screenshots, Google Lens, media play/pause, next or previous track, sound controls, the notification shade, or Quick Settings. You can also launch any app or even adjust double-tap timing between 250ms and 500ms, while the hold threshold ranges from 300ms to 800ms.

That flexibility is exactly what Motorola’s own implementation is missing. The stock AI key is essentially limited to AI features or is disabled entirely. We know how much more useful a dedicated AI button can become when a phone lets you assign everyday shortcuts, such as the flashlight, note-taking apps, or specific app actions, so this change would be welcome by power users.

We haven’t tested MotoKey Plus ourselves, so some caution is warranted. Still, early Reddit feedback is encouraging, with users reporting that it works on devices including the Edge 60 Pro, Edge 70 Pro, and Razr Ultra 2025. Not everyone has had a trouble-free experience, though, with some users reporting problems getting an assigned mute action to work consistently.

There are also a few important caveats. MotoKey Plus still has to be sideloaded and isn’t open source yet. But the developer says that will change and that a Google Play release is planned within a month.

GitHub currently lists MotoKey Plus version 1.1.1, but the project’s Telegram channel has already moved to v1.1.7, which adds a fix for press-and-hold behavior on newer firmware. For Motorola owners who barely touch the AI key today, MotoKey Plus could turn an otherwise forgettable button into one of the phone’s handiest shortcuts.