Most of the modern day Android cell phones accompanied on-screen navigation buttons and while its efficiency when compared to physical buttons is disputable, it’s incredible to have a button-less display. For individuals unaware, the home, back and recent/multitasking keys are the navigation buttons and they comprise to make the navigation bar on Android. The navigation bar and its buttons work as they are supposed to however if you are anything like us, you must have thought if there’s any approach to modify it, considering the likes of LG and HTC already offer such alternatives.

Well, Google appears to have heard us, as tinkerers have found code of a Navigation Bar customizer in Android Nougat. This will give you to customize almost everything about the navigation bar adding its appearances, functionality and in addition its buttons. If you own a Nexus 6P, you can even try it out, as it can be enabled by flashing a ZIP file. However, we don’t know when to expect the feature to arrive on Android and if the past is any indication, it ought to take a long while. So, for all you impatient ones out there, here are a few approaches to modify navigation bar in Android on both rooted and non-rooted gadgets:

Customize Navigation Bar look with Navbar (Non-Rooted devices)

Navbar is a cool new app (free) that gives you to add color and more to the otherwise bland navigation bar on stock Android. Furthermore, it works like a charm on non-rooted gadgets. Here are the steps to customize navigation bar on non-root gadgets utilizing Navbar app:

• After you have installed the app on your Android device, the app will prompt you to give itsAccessibility permissions when you launch it.

• Once done, the Navbar app lets you select a custom color for the navigation bar with its “Static Color” option and you can select almost any color you want. If you want the navigation bar’s color to match the pallet of the presently opened app, you can choose the “Active App” option. You can also set certain apps to have a specific navigation bar color.

• Also, the app lets you add widgets to the navigation bar. Presently, you can add a battery widget or show an image in the navigation bar with more widgets like music coming soon. When it comes to images, you can even show custom images in the navigation bar but you will have to get the Premium version ($0.99) of the app for that.

Overall, the Navbar app does give a lot of character to the navigation bar however if you are looking for more control or functionality on the navigation bar, sadly, there are not a lot of choices for non-rooted gadgets.

Add functionality to Navigation Bar buttons with Gravity Box (Rooted devices)

If you have a rooted Android gadget, you can utilize the Gravity Box app to include more functionality to the navigation bar while changing its look. Here are the steps on how you can utilize GravityBox to customize the navigation bar:

• Firstly, you will have to download the Xposed installer APK file and install it on your device (Enable Unknown sources in Settings->Security). Then, you can install the Xposed Framework from the app.

• After you are done, you cansearch for Gravity Box in the “Download” section of the app. There are different versions of GravityBox aimed at different Android releases. Choose the version accordingly, go to its “Versions” tab and install it.

• After GravityBox is installed, you will get a notification prompting you to activate the module and reboot your device. Tap on it, check “GravityBox” and reboot your device.

• After your device restarts, you canopen the GravityBox app and head to “Navigation bar tweaks“. Here, enable “Master Switch”, so that all the tweaks you make become active after you reboot.

• Once done, you can check out different options like always show menu key, swap back & recent keys,add custom keys, use larger icons, enable colors, change the navigation bar’s height, width and more.

• You can also head to “Navigation keys actions” option to add custom functionality to navigation bar buttons. Here, you can set upsingle-tap, double-tap and long press actions for menu, home, back and recent keys. Along with various actions, you can even set custom actions with third party apps.

After you are done, you can simply reboot your gadget to see the changes take effect. If you don’t need a DIY solution, you can theme the navigation bar with another Xposed module dubbed Xstana or if you are utilizing CyanogenMod, you can try out the Navigate theme, which gives beautiful preset designs for the navigation bar. Moreover, you can even go ahead and replace the navigation bar with gestures through the Swipe Navigation app.

Add some life to the boring navigation bar in Android

You must have noticed that rooted Android users have a plethora of options when it comes to customizing the navigation bar. Well, that’s one of the several benefits for rooting. Having said that, non-rooted users at least have an option to customize the navigation bar with the Navbar app. Well, we hope Google’s built-in Navigation Bar Customizer arrives for all Android users soon because it’s a highly detailed feature but until then, you should be able to customize the navigation bar pretty well with the aforementioned solutions.