Specialized shortcuts in Animated Widget 2.X: direct support of SMS through Whatsapp, Viber, Hangouts, etc.

Animated Widgets provides Single Contact widget, that allowes to create shortcuts for common contact actions: phone call, sms, email, Viber call, Skype call, sending message through IM or Facebook messager, opening contact address on map and so on.

By default, each action is handled by default application. If default application is not specified, system will show chooser dialog for selecting required application. For example, if you tap on SMS shortcut you could see chooser dialog like below:

If you use several sms-applications you are forced to select required application each time. It's inconvenient. Animated Widget 1.X suggests workaround for the problem:

• single tap on SMS-shortcut opens default SMS-application,
• long tap opens chooser dialog with full list of SMS-applications,

see Long, Short and Double Tap in Animated Widget for detailes. So, if you used both standard SMS application and Whatsapp, you were able to set standard SMS application as default application and start it by single tap, and, at the same time, open Whatsapp through long tap.

Animated Widget 2.0 provides new feature: specialized shortcuts. Now it's possible to select specified application for any contact shortcut. You are able to add several SMS-shortcuts to Single Contact: one shortcut for default SMS application, another one for Whatsapp, one more for Viber and so on.

Single tap on specialized shortcuts will always start selected application independently on default application settings. No chooser dialog will be shown. Just add specialized shortcut for each required application:

and send SMS through an application by single tap

Free version Animated Widget 2.0 has some limitations for this new feature: specialized shortcuts for Skype and Viber only are allowed. Since upcoming Animated Widget 2.1 this limitation will be removed and users of free version will have possibility to create specialized shortcuts for any applications.

Specialized shortcuts are not limited by SMS actions. You are able to select applications for other type of shortcuts too: select map-application to open address (i.e. Google Map or Yandex Map), select mail application to send email, select specified browser for opening URL and so on.