GravityBox, you might have heard about it before. But, it’s the next best thing for you if you like tweaking and rooting your Android device to make the most out of it.
You can do a lot of things – but you need GravityBox to work in order to tweak a rooted Android smartphone. For that, you need the Xposed framework installed and active.
Before you proceed: Learn what you need to know before rooting your Android device.
Precisely, the Xposed Installer through which you can download GravityBox. If that does not work, you can download the APK file right from the XDA Developer’s page.
Contents
How to install GravityBox?
Note: You need to have the Xposed Installer with the framework installed first before having GravityBox – which you can download here. So, you can install GravityBox (GB) using the installer or follow the steps below.
I did mention that you have to download the APK from XDA – but let us take a look at it,
Step 1. Just because you are downloading an APK and not an app from the Play Store, you will have to allow the installation from unknown sources before proceeding. You will find the option inside the Security settings of your device (not your launcher).
Step 2. After enabling that, download the APK file from XDA’s forum and install it.
Step 3. After successfully installing it, you should receive a notification from Xposed installer that the module is not activated yet.
Step 4. Go ahead and click on it to proceed
That’s it. However, you need to make sure that you are not trying to do this on a heavily modified ROM – which you will be warned about in the on-screen instructions.
GravityBox: Why it still matters?
If you’ve used Android before, you must be thinking that now a lot of features are available by default without needing to tweak or root. So, what is so special about GravityBox that people still use to tweak their Android phones?
Well, first of all, it is an Xposed module – so it is something easy to tweak your Android without harming your device’s functionality.
Second, it does provide a lot of freedom and options to tweak.
All about GravityBox: Features
GravityBox offers a bunch of options to tweak your Android phone. It is advisable to make the changes if you use AOSP ROMs or close to stock ROMs.
If the feature you want to activate is already present in your ROM, do not tweak it using GravityBox – else you may have serious issues.
Let us take a look at some of the features it offers:
- Lockscreen tweaks
- Power Tweaks
- Statusbar Tweaks
- Notification Control Tweaks
- Navigation bar tweaks
- Phone tweaks
- Media tweaks
- Interface for 3rd party apps
- Fingerprint launcher
- Advanced tuning of Framework and System UI parameters.
These are some of the key highlights of GravityBox. But, here, as you can see, GB is essentially everything you need after having the Xposed framework on your device.
Some Useful GravityBox tweaks:
Now let’s talk about some GravityBox tweaks.
Lockscreen Tweaks
Suppose, you want to tweak your lockscreen, you can choose to even automatically unlock it right after entering the PIN without needing to press the OK or confirm button – if any. Similar to that, you get a lot of other tweaking options.
Power Menu
Heck, even the power menu can be customized if you want. The power menu includes the options which you get when you try to switch off your device. With that, you can add a screen record option on it or screenshot option, if you do not have it by default.
Screen Recording
You do not need to install additional screen recording app because you can even adjust the quality of screen recording from within GB. How cool is that?
The soft keys can be customized as well. However, do note, if you already have the option to change it on your ROM – you should avoid tweaking it from within GravityBox.
Miscellaneous Tweaks
You can also control the option to be able to clear all the tasks or not. If that is something of your preference. In addition, you can set your WiFi priority and control what happens when you insert the headphone jack.
Ultimate Notification Control
Even though I haven’t tried all the GB versions – you should definitely find this tweak to control all your notifications per app as well.
Premium Options
Now that I mentioned the ultimate notification control, you should note that this is one of the premium features in GravityBox that you will have to pay for in order to unlock.
In addition to this, you get the ability to back/restore GB settings if you have paid for the premium upgrade.
Troubleshooting and Support for GravityBox
If you are new to the scene of using Xposed framework and its modules, you should note that you can expect the support of the developers and its users on the XDA forum.
However, before reaching out for support, you need to make sure that you followed all the instructions and the compatibility guide before trying anything on your device.
If you have all those in place, you can reach out in the forums to seek help – in case of a bug or an issue making your device unusable.
Wrapping Up
GravityBox is one of the best things for Xposed framework users. It now supports Android Oreo as well. You should look out for the Android Pie support soon enough.
However, no matter how good the features and flexibility it offers – you should always backup your important data or settings in order to avoid any data loss. Using modules with Xposed framework is helpful but it can also make your device non-functional if you do not know what you are doing.
Keeping that in mind, I hope this article was helpful enough to let you know about GravityBox. Go ahead installing it and explore!
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