Kirik Settings - quickly access Windows Phone settings from anywhere via volume controls

By Mark Guim
published

On Android and iOS devices, there are shortcuts to settings from any app or screen. Swipe down on Android or swipe up on iOS. Windows Phone doesn’t have those options yet, but an app that has just been released provides a clever workaround.

The Kirik Settings application brings quick access to your settings like Wi-Fi, cellular data, location, rotation lock, Bluetooth and more from anywhere via your volume controls. Head past the break to watch our hands-on video.

Launching Kirik Settings for the first time brings you to a page with just an on/off switch and a warning:

"Warning: Turning quick settings will kill all music. Also if you play music, quick settings will be turned off. You will need to manually enable it again."

To get started, swipe the slider on. You still need to restart the app to apply the change. Now, from anywhere on your screen, you have quick access to certain settings. This initial version gives you shortcuts to:

  • Wifi
  • Cellular
  • Bluetooth
  • Airplane mode
  • Location
  • Lockscreen
  • Create new mail
  • Create new SMS
  • Rotation Lock (needs GDR3/Update 3)
  • Battery percentage

This doesn’t actually let you turn on/off settings from the playback pop-up, but it forwards you to the specific settings page when you tap on it. You cycle through the settings by pressing the forward or reverse buttons. The play button does not activate or de-activate anything, although that would be cool if that were possible.

Kirik Settings is very clever and we wonder how Microsoft feels about this workaround. The battery percentage setting is our favorite because it lets us see the percentage without the use of a live tile.

While Kirik Settings provides a unique solution, it’s not really practical. It stops working when you listen to music or play some games. You need to re-open the app to be able to access the shortcuts again.

Kirik Settings is available at the Windows Phone Store for $1.99. There’s also a free trial available with limited features. Check it out and let us know what you think in the comments!

Mark Guim
Mark Guim

Mark Guim is Video Editor at Windows Central. He switched to Windows because the MacBook Pro isn't Pro enough. You can follow him on Twitter at @markguim.

65 Comments
  • Very clever!  I don't know if I would use it or not, but very clever!
  • +1 just paid to award the clever developer
  • +920
  • Meh
  • This is something I hope comes in 8.1. It did take apple forever to make setting toggles.
  • *It did take Apple forever to steal Android's features.
  • Which Google took from webOS.   
  • others will argue it andriod stole it from maemo6 noone accuses ubunutu of stealing from windows, or windows stealing from macintoish  same should be applied to the mobile space, every OS should have as much essensial features as possible, nifty features included..  i want my Main OS to have everything i find intersting 
  • I agree. Some features all of them need.
  • Nobody accuses Windows of stealing from Macintosh. Except Steve Jobs in a 1994 :P.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Computer,_Inc._v._Microsoft_Corp.
     
  • It is coming.  There is a leaked screen shot of it out there.
  • Where? Where? Where?? Where??? I wanna see it!! Is the most wanted feature for me!!
  • The leaked screen shot is actually the settings/setup screen for the notifications/quick settings. It's over at wmpoweruser.
  • Officially sure, but they've had toggles since like iOS 3 with SBSettings. 
  • Using it and it's awesome! Should let us customize what we could toggle and what not.
  • The send an e-mail/SMS feature is nice, but that's the only thing. I still think shortcut tiles are much faster. I don't use the default mail client anyway, and the music issue would get in the way very easily.
  • I like the GDR3's Rotation Lock, but so stupid to scroll to the middle of my Start Screen (haven't space at the top) for my 'Rotation Tile'.. I want access from everywhere, what this app offers (after buying -_-).
  • This is pretty great. Grabbed it earlier today. Neat.
  • Unfortunately not practical for me since I'm almost always listening music. But clever workaround any way.
  • +1
    Or to stay with WPC traditions
    +8X
  • Lol. Actually pretty lame if it interferes with music. What's the point, really? 
  • It's clever because the developer found a workaround for something that is a system limitation. Obviously it's not ideal, but until Microsoft adds in native quick toggles this is what we have.
  • Seems brilliant. Gonna try it out.
  • It's shameful that hacks like this are necessary to obtain this functionality, 3 years after the launch of the OS.  When is Windows Phone going to catch up to the competition when it comes to basic usability features?
  • Didn't it take iPhone 5 years to introduce quick settings?
    WP will apparently have it in early/mid 2014.
  • So those of us on AT&T might have it by 2015 then.  Woohoo!  Can't wait!
  • you dont get to use that argument when youre playing catch up. wp needs to update faster in order to keep up with the OS' that got a headstart. im a wp fan through and through but i can't honestly say that updating at the same rate as ios and android is doing msft a lot of good
  • Become a coder fill in the gaps please. :D
  • Hmm all it's doing is bringing me to the enable/disable screen.
  • watch the video, you control the settings with the volume keys
  • Oh, you control the settings with the *next and previous* media keys.
  • Need such features on windows phone 8.1
  • Its a great concept! I hope WP8.1 will include such feature...
  • The app icon is ugly as sin.
  • +820 ;)
  • Cool, but I am constantly listening to music or podcasts so not a viable work around for me. But still really cool and ingenious solution.
  • Brilliant. Clicked "Try" and after trying it for less than a minute I clicked "Buy". Amazing and so intuitive. I dont listen to music with my phone so this will always work for me. Awesome.
  • I don't think that's really usable, but yeah, interesting and clever idea!
  • too much hassle for $2 I'll just wait until wp8.1
  • great thinking...
  • Why are people so crazy about settings? I only use the volume controls 99% of the time.
  • I've already got a tile on my start screen that gives me immediate access to the phones settings. I also have four tiles for quick access to my most used connectivity settings. So what is the point, or use, of this application?
    Meh, I'll pass.
  • Several show status. I use Connectivity Tiles by Mara. Paid $1 for the metro version. This is as convenient as it gets on WP, for now.      
  • Its a shame this app even has to exist and our only option. Get on the damn ball MS! The basics this OS is missing is ridiculous
  • Clearly you are quite new to the smartphone game and the evolution of a smartphone OS. Android, iOS and even the dreaded Symbian took years to attain modern and up to date features that Windows Phone is still lacking. It takes time for an OS to grow and develop so if you are an impatient type then please feel free to move over to one of the others. In the meantime, stop whining like a little spoiled brat, get a life and get out of ours.
  • That's because some of those features were brand new at the time. It isn't as if MS didn't know they existed. People have been asking for some of these basic features for two years now. And while I may not be a knowledgeable dev, there's no way they couldn't have whipped features like this in a weeks time or less. No excuses.
  • It's not simply a matter of deciding to wave a magic wand. These things have to be designed, developed, coded, tested and put into an OS update that the carriers claim to test, approve and distribute. These things all take time. They make decisions about what should come next. If they had included these first, y'all would be complaining that something else that we currently have, was missing. It's happening, but it's not magic.
  • DaveGx, if you are so shit hot at developing for mobile OS's then what the heck are you doing here complaining? Get yourself a job with MS and sort things out. Simple really.
  • This is very clever, but the fact that it's still just a shortcut leaves me disappointed. It doesn't really improve accessibility over home screen shortcuts. In fact, it might even be slower.
  • True. MS is either very stubborn or just very slow or both. How hard would it be for them to do this? They could code it in a half hour or less if they wanted to.
  • good idea. however, very inconvenient.
  • I think that the faster option to do it, is to pin them to your homescreen. 
  • Great idea.
  • Nice. It's very useful when using the camera, when you have to turn on the screen rotation. ;)
  • What will they think of next!?
  • I wonder if the same could be done with the camera button? I wouldn't mind having to click a camera tile to open that if it allowed the camera button to bring up a list of menus/options on the screen.
  • I wish there's an option to choose which shortcuts you want to appear in the volume bar and sorting option also, like if you want the rotation lock to appear first instead of the useless app settings.
  • Doesn't work on WP7
  • Pin the settings icon on start screen. Simple
  • Those settings are nice to access but the only one I want to access from the start screen that I don't already have is AUDIO, and no one has an app for that.
  • Great idea but won't work for me. Maybe find a way to not kill the music?
  • Why is it charging us... None of other OS charges for such little things
  • Hoping quick access to these settings via Windows Phone Charms. :-/
  • Clever but not practical, so I don't know why I'd pay $2 for it. I'm all for paying for apps, but I pay for useful and innovative.
  • This is very cool with a unique implementation. They really need to find a fix for disabling the music, or some sort of auto-resume. They do that, and what was mentioned before about actually being able to change the settings instead of just taking you to them and this would be great.