I'm far better at remembering the half-dozen or so people I call by
number than by name, it would be much handier for me if the phone app
started up showing me the dialler but I can't see anything in the
configuration that would let me do that.

Is there a way to do it in the standard phone app (Android 11, pretty
much default Google set-up) or do I (yet again) need to install an app
to get rid of something?

--
Chris Green
·

Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:
> I'm far better at remembering the half-dozen or so people I call by
> number than by name, it would be much handier for me if the phone app
> started up showing me the dialler but I can't see anything in the
> configuration that would let me do that.
>
> Is there a way to do it in the standard phone app (Android 11, pretty
> much default Google set-up) or do I (yet again) need to install an app
> to get rid of something?

On my phone - Samsung Galaxy A51 with Android 11 - this can be done
with the settings of the Phone app.

Specifically: Open Phone app -> Settings (icon of three vertical dots
in the upper right) -> Open to keypad.

Once you made this change, you can change the setting to 'Open to last
viewed', if that's what one wants.

My Phone app is probably Samsung's (it doesn't specifically say and I
can be bothered to hunt down its origin), but perhaps your/Google's
Phone app has a similar setting/feature.

Frank Slootweg <this@ddress.is.invalid> wrote:
> Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:
> > I'm far better at remembering the half-dozen or so people I call by
> > number than by name, it would be much handier for me if the phone app
> > started up showing me the dialler but I can't see anything in the
> > configuration that would let me do that.
> >
> > Is there a way to do it in the standard phone app (Android 11, pretty
> > much default Google set-up) or do I (yet again) need to install an app
> > to get rid of something?
>
> On my phone - Samsung Galaxy A51 with Android 11 - this can be done
> with the settings of the Phone app.
>
> Specifically: Open Phone app -> Settings (icon of three vertical dots
> in the upper right) -> Open to keypad.
>
> Once you made this change, you can change the setting to 'Open to last
> viewed', if that's what one wants.
>
> My Phone app is probably Samsung's (it doesn't specifically say and I
> can be bothered to hunt down its origin), but perhaps your/Google's
> Phone app has a similar setting/feature.

Sadly not as far as I can see. In the Phone App's Settings there's
nothing like "Open to keypad".

--
Chris Green
·

Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:

> I'm far better at remembering the half-dozen or so people I call by
> number than by name, it would be much handier for me if the phone app
> started up showing me the dialler but I can't see anything in the
> configuration that would let me do that.
>
> Is there a way to do it in the standard phone app (Android 11, pretty
> much default Google set-up) or do I (yet again) need to install an app
> to get rid of something?

For me using Android 8.0 on an LG V20 phone using the included Phone
app, whatever I used last is what is shown the next time I load the
Phone app. If I showed the Dial tab in the Phone app, I see the Dial
tab when I next load the Phone app. That's probably because the Phone
app remains loaded in memory as a backgrounded app. To check, I
selected the Dial tab in the Phone app, and restarted the phone. Wait,
wait, wait. I loaded the Phone app. It was still showing the Dial tab.
It remembered the selection across Android sessions.

Sorry, I don't have an Android 11 phone. Have you tried to select the
app's Dial[er] panel, exited the app, reload it, to check what it
displays on next load? For me, the selection is sticky. Maybe it's not
for you.

Maybe the one you got is Google's recent incarnation of their Phone app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.dialer&hl=en_US

It wasn't available on non-Pixel phones until a year ago. To me, that
looks clumsy and confusing. For me, it says "This app is not available
for your device". Guess it needs an Android version later than mine.
The app description is worthless to know the minimum Android version
required. All it says is "Requires Android - Varies with device".
Yeah, real helpful ... not! Just like how useless if the "Current
Version - Varies with device" despite their Play Store site obviously
already know the device I registered with them. Go figure.

Chris Green wrote on 14.07.2021 11:28
>> On my phone - Samsung Galaxy A51 with Android 11 - this can be done
>> with the settings of the Phone app.
>
> Sadly not as far as I can see. In the Phone App's Settings there's
> nothing like "Open to keypad".

Sadly, I'm pretty sure this "Chris Green" is trolling us based on the fact
he asks questions but _never_ provides anywhere near the detail to actually
solve his problem (e.g., he doesn't even name the unique phone app's name!).

Hence, nobody can possibly help the OP, in my humblest of opinions, no
matter how purposefully helpful their intent on helping others voluntarily.

However, the question is worth solving - at least for _others_ who need the
answer to the same question of how to put a shortcut to any setting inside
any app (yes, even the phone app) on your homescreen, any time you want to.

To help anyone who really wants to know how to solve the OP's problem,
I start with confirming that what Frank said is perfectly correct
(and likely the Samsung Galaxy app <com.samsung.android.dialer> can be
loaded by the OP, if he actually _wanted_ to solve his stated problem set).
<https://play.google.com/store/search?q=com.samsung.android.dialer&c=apps>

> On my phone - Samsung Galaxy A51 with Android 11 - this can be done
> with the settings of the Phone app.

This confirms exactly what Frank Slootweg just said for Samsung Android 11.
<https://i.postimg.cc/qRqQv6wb/shortcut15.jpg>

You can always put a shortcut to the Android default phone on your desktop.
<https://i.postimg.cc/9z5Bb8hK/shortcut17.jpg>

Even if the OP's phone app doesn't have this feature of opening directly to
the desired screen within an app, usually there's an "Activity" you open to.
<https://i.postimg.cc/XJrhDzRY/shortcut21.jpg>

Then you can place a shortcut on your homescreen to that phone "Activity".
<https://i.postimg.cc/c4yjXTXd/shortcut24.jpg>

The Samsung phone app alone has 7+9+16=32 "Activities" alone to choose from.
<https://i.postimg.cc/Z5L193P4/shortcut20.jpg>

But, whatever phone app the OP uses should have a similar keypad "Activity".
https://i.postimg.cc/KzWfkcsZ/shortcut16.jpg

BTW, I'm a novice at creating shortcuts to "Activities" within applications.
I would love to find an expert who knows how to _manually_ create them.
Maybe I'll open a separate thread on just that topic of shortcut creation.

Since I'm always purposefully helpful, for others to benefit, in summary, it
seems to me, offhand, that the OP can easily solve his problem by a variety
of methods, from installing an app that _does_ have a setting to open to the
dialer, to creating a homescreen shortcut that opens to the exact spot
within his chosen phone app that is the "Activity" for that dialer keypad.
--
If someone wants to solve any given problem, the _first_ thing they will
_always_ do is identify the phone, the os version, and the application name.

VanguardLH wrote on 14.07.2021 19:38
> For me using Android 8.0 on an LG V20 phone using the included Phone
> app, whatever I used last is what is shown the next time I load the
> Phone app.

Just as I easily instantly confirmed Frank was correct that the Samsung
"Phone" app <com.samsung.android.dialer> has a setting to "Open to keypad"
<https://i.postimg.cc/qRqQv6wb/shortcut15.jpg>

I can just as easily confirm Vanguard is correct that many Android "Phone"
apps have settings to set which "Activity" shows up when opened.
<https://i.postimg.cc/Z5L193P4/shortcut20.jpg>

For example, my default phone app has a setting for "Last used" just as
Vanguard had said even as I use the Simple Mobile Tools phone app instead.
<https://i.postimg.cc/W13874D0/shortcut18.jpg>

In summary, while the OP hasn't said what the unique name of the phone app
he's using, it's clear that most of us (if not all of us) have access to a
phone app that _does_ have a setting to open to the keypad dialer.
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.simplemobiletools.dialer>

Even if the OP's default phone app didn't have a setting for that (which is
unlikely, but possible), anyone who wants this capability can certainly
download one of very many phone apps out there that does have this setting.]
<https://github.com/SimpleMobileTools/Simple-Dialer>
--
What I need is someone who is an expert at creating Activities, since I'd
like to manually create a shortcut to _any_ activity just by the name of the
activity. I may need to open a separate thread on that topic to get help.

paul <nospam@nospam.invalid> wrote:

> I can just as easily confirm Vanguard is correct that many Android "Phone"
> apps have settings to set which "Activity" shows up when opened.
> <https://i.postimg.cc/Z5L193P4/shortcut20.jpg>

At first, I could not find a setting similar to "Open to Dialpad" or
"Open to last activity". What I just found in my Phone app's own
settings was:

menu (3-button icon) -> Default screen
Last Used <-- Was the current setting.
Dial <-- I changed to this setting.
Call logs
Contacts
Groups

For some reason, when I was looking at this before, "screen" made me
think of the Android [home] screens, not the app's window.

VanguardLH <V@nguard.lh> wrote:
> Chris Green <cl@isbd.net> wrote:
>
> > I'm far better at remembering the half-dozen or so people I call by
> > number than by name, it would be much handier for me if the phone app
> > started up showing me the dialler but I can't see anything in the
> > configuration that would let me do that.
> >
> > Is there a way to do it in the standard phone app (Android 11, pretty
> > much default Google set-up) or do I (yet again) need to install an app
> > to get rid of something?
>
> For me using Android 8.0 on an LG V20 phone using the included Phone
> app, whatever I used last is what is shown the next time I load the
> Phone app. If I showed the Dial tab in the Phone app, I see the Dial
> tab when I next load the Phone app. That's probably because the Phone
> app remains loaded in memory as a backgrounded app. To check, I
> selected the Dial tab in the Phone app, and restarted the phone. Wait,
> wait, wait. I loaded the Phone app. It was still showing the Dial tab.
> It remembered the selection across Android sessions.
>
> Sorry, I don't have an Android 11 phone. Have you tried to select the
> app's Dial[er] panel, exited the app, reload it, to check what it
> displays on next load? For me, the selection is sticky. Maybe it's not
> for you.
>
You're right of course, thanks. It's not perfect but it's better than
nothing, simply leaving the dialler visible means it's there the next
time I click on the phone app.

--
Chris Green
·

VanguardLH wrote on 14.07.2021 20:14
> At first, I could not find a setting similar to "Open to Dialpad" or
> "Open to last activity". What I just found in my Phone app's own
> settings was:
>
> menu (3-button icon) -> Default screen
> Last Used <-- Was the current setting.
> Dial <-- I changed to this setting.
> Call logs
> Contacts
> Groups
>
> For some reason, when I was looking at this before, "screen" made me
> think of the Android [home] screens, not the app's window.

Thanks for that update as I realized after looking at what you wrote that I
have _multiple_ very similar looking apps with the word "Phone" as their
only icon name, so I updated my screenshot to show which is which, I think.
<https://i.postimg.cc/qB1t432f/shortcut27.jpg>

Notice all _look_ the same (so I should probably _change_ the icon), even as
they have three different names (and a different number of "Activities").
<com.samsung.android.dialer> this has 9 "Activities"
<com.android.phone> this has 16 "Activities"
<com.android.server.telecom> this has 7 "Activities"

The beauty of having full access to these "Activities" is that we can create
a shortcut to _any_ of those "Activities" even if there isn't a persistence
setting on the phone app itself to "open to keypad" or "open to last used".

Personally, given almost every phone app has a way to set it up to open to
the keypad dialer, I'm surprised that the OP hasn't even told us _which_
unique app name he's using so that we can test his specific app to help him
better.

Sometimes people are beyond help, either because they really don't want it
(I guess) or they don't care to provide the minimum information for us to
provide it.

Nonetheless, I assume every thread is useful to the lurkers who can benefit
from this discussion amongst us as to all the features of the phone to open
to either the dialer or to the last used screen (which could be the dialer).

BTW, in researching this for the OP, I realized I don't (yet) know how to
_manually_ create a shortcut to any given screen, which is an expert skill
that I'd like to have, so I may open a thread seeking out such an expert.

> Personally, given almost every phone app has a way to set it up to open to
> the keypad dialer

My Moto G5S+ (Android 8.1) doesn't offer the option to open directly to
the dialpad screen. After I press the hang-up button, the phone always
goes back to the main phone app screen.

kelown wrote on 15.07.2021 02:20
>> Personally, given almost every phone app has a way to set it up to open to
>> the keypad dialer
>
> My Moto G5S+ (Android 8.1) doesn't offer the option to open directly to
> the dialpad screen. After I press the hang-up button, the phone always
> goes back to the main phone app screen.

Hi kelown,

This conversation should benefit the lurkers, which is why it has value
as what you're saying (and I believe you) is not all phone apps have the
native settings to open the phone app directly to the dialer keypad.

I have a Moto G7 and an LG Stylo 3 Plus and a Samsung Galaxy A32 5G, and
they all certainly can do what the OP asks them to do. If I want them to.

Which is the point.
The question for this newsgroup is how to get the phone do what you want.

Right?

As you're well aware, my credibility is fantastic because I test out what I
claim where you've already seen the screenshots from some of those phones.

If you _want_ your dialer to open up to the keypad, I propose 3 solutions
1. Install a dialer that does have the option to open to the keypad
2. Or install a dialer that has the option to open to the last used screen
3. Or, create a homescreen shortcut to your dialer's keypad "Activity"

If you wish to keep your current dialer, and if it truly doesn't have an
option for #1 or #2 above, then what's wrong with using #3 as an option?

As an example of setting up shortcuts to any "Activity", I wanted a single
pushbutton icon on my homescreen that opened to the "Reset Advertiser ID".
<https://i.postimg.cc/KvPWVLHB/shortcut25.jpg>

If I can create a homescreen shortcut that bring up to the top, in a single
click, what amounts to a deep dive well into the settings, why can't others?

I am a noob when it comes to shortcuts, but why can't the average user
create a shortcut to _any_ "Activity" in their dialer that they can find?
<https://i.postimg.cc/KzWfkcsZ/shortcut16.jpg>

My "Phone" apps each have at least half a dozen "Activities" to choose from:
<https://i.postimg.cc/Z5L193P4/shortcut20.jpg>

Why can't any user create a shortcut to the "Activity" of the keypad dialer?
--
Note that I may need to open another tutorial thread for using shortcuts.

paul wrote on 15.07.2021 11:13
> If you _want_ your dialer to open up to the keypad, I propose 3 solutions
> 1. Install a dialer that does have the option to open to the keypad
> 2. Or install a dialer that has the option to open to the last used screen
> 3. Or, create a homescreen shortcut to your dialer's keypad "Activity"

Hi kelown (and anyone lurking who may benefit from this improvement),

I found another solution to the problem set of opening _directly_ to the
phone keypad dialer while I was trying to get WhatsApp to work without
WhatsApp needing any access to my contacts list (to maintain privacy).
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ospolice.phoneshortcut>

The other solution to opening directly to a keypad dialer is described here.
*How to open the default phone app directly to the keypad dialpad dialer*
<https://groups.google.com/g/comp.mobile.android/c/uW1erWAoJPI>
--
On the Android newsgroup we help each other because we're good people.