Quicky, an easy way to add shortcuts to your Windows Phone Notification Center

Quicky is an interesting Windows Phone app that creates app shortcuts for your Windows Phone Notifications Center in slightly roundabout way. You essentially send yourself notifications that, with the help of a little bit of coding, serve as shortcuts to launch particular apps or games.

The app is the product of 16 year old Windows Phone developer Han Swinkels and while the concept may not appeal to everyone, Quicky is a well presented Windows Phone title. I did run into a few bugs that need ironing out, but overall the app comes across as a creative way to access your Windows Phone apps and games.

There really isn't much to Quicky with pages listing various Windows Phone app shortcuts, a page for direct access to a handful of Windows Phone settings and a page to create your own shortcuts.

The concept is equally as simple as the Quicky's layout. Tap one of the shortcut bars to create a shortcut notification that appears in your Windows Phone Notification Center. When you go to your Notification Center, you can tap on the Quicky notification to launch that particular app.

The pre-set shortcuts included with Quicky include:

  • Facebook
  • WhatsApp
  • Twitter
  • Instagram Beta
  • MetroTube
  • Spotify
  • Skype

To create your own shortcut, you will need to provide the URI scheme (code needed to launch an app) for the app or game. Quicky helps you out with this by providing a link from Nokia that lists over 3,000 URI schemes.

Compared to the Social page (the page with the app shortcuts), the Settings page seems a little dull. It includes seven shortcuts to Windows Phone settings that include Bluetooth, Cellular Settings, Battery Saver and more. You cannot send these shortcuts to the Notification Center but it is a nice touch to have them available.

Overall Impressions

There are a few downsides to Quicky. The app does have a few stability issues present that causes the shortcuts to fail. Then you have the issue that if you get additional notifications, the shortcuts will eventually move down the notification list and out of sight.

You also have the obvious question of whether or not such an app is needed. If you want a shortcut to launch an app, you have the ability to pin a Live Tile to your Windows Phone Start Screen. Then again, there may be times you want to launch an app without moving to your Start Screen and the Notification Center is always handy. You also you may have a few apps that do not warrant a Live Tile but you would like easier access to.

I can see the discussion go either way for or against the idea but regardless the outcome, it is nice to see a 16 year old come up with the idea and have the desire to follow through and develop it.

There is a trial version available for Quicky that is limited in the number of preset shortcuts that are available and you can only add three custom shortcuts. If you try Quicky, let us know what you think of things.

George Ponder

George is the Reviews Editor at Windows Central, concentrating on Windows 10 PC and Mobile apps. He's been a supporter of the platform since the days of Windows CE and uses his current Windows 10 Mobile phone daily to keep up with life and enjoy a game during down time.

118 Comments
  • This Is Helpful..!!
  • Yeah, nothing like a good Quicky.
  • Lol
  • Interesting app, but I won't use it.
  • Same here.
  • Add cellular data as a shortcut to the notification centre. George didn't mention that.
  • I still can't believe how MS left out data shortcut key in the action center that is just incredibly stupid.
  • How about add a "copy from Quick Launcher" statement into the app?
  • I use Quick Settings for the Cellular Data only. It's much more useful than the Live Tile since you can activate it from the Lock Screen (although I also have the live tile shortcut).
  • I would better use a Live Tile than to make my notifications filthy...
  • Agreed, Asceish!
  • Nice thinking
  • Good to see such a young guy launch an app. I wish him the best, this is a great start.
  • At least a good copycat app, better than those fb web apps
  • How are you so sure and filling every reply with copycat comments?
  • Speaking about fb,is it just me or I can't view my friends posts!!!!
    If any one have a solution or a better app please help!!
  • They removed you as a friend.
  • WHY WOULD SOMEBODY REMOVE ME!? I mean Come on im cool and I don't SCREAM OR SMTH,I like every one posts!!I'm not annoying!!
    Hey wanna be my friend!?!?!?
  • Or maybe all your friends are dead... ._.   Sorry to break in the sad news. But hey at least your friends don't hate you ^_^ !
  • Time for some new ( friends)
    :D
  • Unfriend everyone.
  • They are ahead of me I guess :/
  • Why is a third party app beating Microsoft to this?! Seriously, being able to pin any setting to action centre should have been a thing from the start.
  • Yep +1
  • Don't ye use the Start Screen bro..??
  • I use an app to pin some settings to the start screen. But really, why have SOME settings pinnable to action centre, and not others? Why wifi and not cellular data?
  • I don't agree, MS won't think of everything, or they will leave some things out either due to time constraints or because they don't feel it's a feature that enough people will think useful. That's where 3rd party devs can come in and fill the gaps. That said there are some customisation options that it'd be good to see for the next revision of the notification centre and I hope that MS are working hard on improving it instead of just merging everything with RT. While I'm sure Windows 10 will be great on our phones I hope it's not just WP + RT, but adds lots of new features as well.
  • I'm crossing my fingers! :)
  • Can see it being useful for new WP users. Don't think the hard-core element of users will go beyond a trial though but good for you fella!
  • Add cellular data to your notification centre. The article doesn't mention that.
  • +925
  • To bad it crashed my phone when I tried to open the app :( (1520 8.1DP Cyan)
  • Copy of quick launcher ! What a shame !
  • Nope.
    The dev added a few features upon my request.
  • Copycat!
  • Quick Launcher is better
  • No custom URI option in Quick Launcher.
  • Well, if you guys think that custom uri can be helpful, I'll add it! ;)
  • Please do that!
  • Ok, no problem! Just give me some days.. I've a bunch of new projects to work on lately! ;)
  • OK... Take your time! :)
  • Is there anyway to add glance option in your next update? Does wp platform allow it?
  • No, unfortunately I can't add a custom URI for glance..
  • Lol. This is funny. Competition is healthy. Lol
  • Asd!! For me is not a problem if someone make an app like the one I did some months ago!
    You know, competitors help to improve the overall quality, so it's an advantage for consumers and a motivation for developers to build better products! ;)
  • What's funny is now you are copycatting the copycat. Lol :P
  • Actually I didn't expect that make an option to create custom URI would be so interesting for users...
    I mean, when I developed quick launcher I thought that probably give to users the possibility to create their own custom URI would be too "geeky" and that only a few people would know how to make them, that's the reason why I've never add this functionality to quick launcher that actually it's also more convenient for me because I don't have to update my app to add more shortcut everytime! 
  • Win win
  • Only 16 years old....great job. Our young are definitely the future.
  • This really the 16 year old me to shame.
  • you was drunk in the video or just simply mentally broken or what? :)    
  • Both
  • A free app for same purpose is available in the store named"Quick Launcher"
  • No custom URI available.
  • Who care custom URL? Just pin 3rd party apps to start screen. This kind of notification launcher is made for quick access to cellular settings, which we can't set it as toggle in action center YET
  • Being able to add more quick settings at the top of the action center and allowing us to scroll right (swipe left) to access them would be nice. I'm guessing this would prob require an OS update.
  • Yep, probably they'll come up with something like that in W10.
  • We need to be able to access music controls in the action center... When driving it would be a lot easier than pressing buttons on the side of the device..
    .............
    This would also be a lot faster than pulling up the app, waiting for it to load, and fiddling with it..... I guess "Hey Cortana" might address this, though I do wonder how Cortana is going to be able to hear me when my music is at higher levels... Where is that damn update already? Lol❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗❗
  • If omly there could have been a way to pin glance option in start screen
  • ?????? Huh
  • He drunk....
  • Lol!
  • I I gave it a shot on trial. Pretty nice app the layout is really nice. Good job young man I can't wait to see what you will be doing down the road. I will probably use this app but for the price I'll buy for a great try.
  • Nice idea
  • This app has got too many issues as I had used it few days back and end up with uninstall. There is another app - Quick Launcher which does a better job and hardly has any bugs.
  • Interesting workaround, though I don't feel I really need more shortcuts. This will just clog the notification center.
  • Nice idea and good luck to him, but on a personal level it's not much slower to hit the home button and choose an app from the start screen. It also sounds like the kind of app that will be on in the background 100% of the time using RAM and battery
  • Id love music control in the notification center. Or at least the option because some might think its in the way
  • There is another app called Quick Launcher that come earlier than this app. It's totally free. Much better than a 16 years old Kid's app!
  • A bit harsh man.
  • i think Microsoft should add more toggle buttons by swapping right on action center ...
  • Yea, like Android or maybe a fastlane concept from Nokia
  • fastlans would be so easy for Microsoft to add. i mean tjings are ready mostly for Microsoft for adding fastlane coz they had the Nokia x series phones.
  • I miss Daniel when I see rubbish app review and video from other editors. Need Daniel to keep the quality of this site
  • Dude, you are just a ball of negativity. #LawOfAttraction son.
  • want sicht things tp be integrated to window phone. windows phone main thing os thst its good with its integration. i eant the fb integration back and many things to be integrated in windows 10 for phone coz wp sucess lies in its integration
  • R.I.P English
  • yeah
  • It a clean app and nice and responsive. However I just don't see the point in it. What I mean is why bother go in to quicky to click on a social app to then scroll down notification bar and click on the quicky notification to open the app..... Is it me or is this very long winded!? Why not just click on the app you want directly from your start screen?
  • Yea, but the main purpose of this copycat app is to copy another app called quick launcher.
  • Oh come on! I've talked to the dev and he doesn't seem/intend to be a copycat. Indeed he added a few features upon request from the forums.
  • Get over it. Jesus.
  • The notification will stay in your action center until you swipe it away. So you don't need to open Quicku every time.
  • I don't see the point of it, I can launch apps from from notification center already in WP 8.1.
  • Only when you have their notifications...
  • It is great to see teenagers take an interest in building apps for WP. Keep up the good work.
  • Exactly. Nice app by a 16 year old
  • Nice idea by the way!!!
  • I don't think this is useful at anyway
  • I think, "Quick Launcher" is better... http://www.windowsphone.com/s?appid=4d82c4fb-a4a5-4130-a4de-6d66a7e90427
  • Bright idea. But I won't use the app. Will just pin the damn app on a live folder! 
  • I had trouble thinking of a good use case for this, except to counter the 4-icon limit for quick settings. Think there is a more elegant solution if we could convince MS to allow the quicksettings to scroll horizontally and add more that way. Will see if that's already in the feedback site
  • MS should allow scrolling the toggles and adding a shortcut to any setting... And letting the user toggle a setting using one tap and going to the setting's own menu by holding on the toggle button.
  • That's basically gibberish what you're talking...
  • OK, rephrased it a bit. :P
  • Yea i get what you were saying now...
    But i dunno why all that feels a bit Samsung-ish...
    All that said, you do have a point! I would love to see all that in W10...
    Hoping™ since 2010... Lol :P
  • Lol!
  • Would like ot have my torch app available from there, but nothing else is really needed.
  • Well, you can do that. Have your torch app to launch from the notification centre.
  • How do I do that?? Or do you mean using this new app.
  • Cool but pointless honestly. Everything anyone needs or uses should be pinned to the start screen for quick access.
  • We have published similar app with simple UI. Please give it also a try at http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/notification-action/6a0840e6...
  • Awesome work!!!! Really appreciable :)
  • What's the URI for the music hub?
  • Xboxmusic:
  • Not the Xbox Music app. The traditional Windows Phone 8 music hub which was hidden in Windows Phone 8.1. I believe it also has a URI.
  • That hacker dev reker got it from somewhere and nobody else knows that... :(
  • Wonderful
  • Quick launcher is better than this one..... Try it...!!!
  • This is so cool..
  • Great idea, keep it up kid.
  • I'm 39, and still cannot create a WP app..
  • Nav apps need to use technique this when they are running.. Very surprised we have not seen this.
  • I wish there were widgets in notification center, like in iOS 8! :)
  • This app ain't free, and am sure u can guess what this means
  • Sounds neat
  • Gotta love when typos can be seen from the lead photo.
  • That name though LMAO