Tutorial: How to make a 1-tap Google Maps or OSMAnd+ homescreen shortcut to your HOME location

[Wally J]

Voila! *One-tap shortcuts to any destination you frequent.*
<Loading Image...>

How to make a one-tap Google Maps homescreen shortcut to any location
(without ever needing any login account on the Google servers)

Illustration: <https://i.postimg.cc/5NVLS0Dv/shortcut-home.jpg>

1. Shortcut Maker > In-App > Directions (Maps) >
[x] Start turn-by-turn navigation
Choose destination = 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC
Shortcut name = US Capitol
[Save]

2. In Shortcut Maker, press on "Create Shortcut".
Optionally edit the icon and name as desired.
Place onto your homescreen as desired.

3. To test, tap on that homescreen shortcut.
This will start Google Maps routing from your current location
to the desired destination (all in a single tap on your phone!).

Voila! *One-tap shortcuts to any destination you frequent.*
<https://i.postimg.cc/5NVLS0Dv/shortcut-home.jpg>

BTW - this is especially useful for OSMAnd~ which otherwise requires
multiple taps (if you don't create a one-tap shortcut for OSMAnd+).

Shortcut Maker, by Rushikesh Kamewar (free, ad free, gsf free, rated 4.4)
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=rk.android.app.shortcutmaker>

[Alan]

Post by Wally J
Voila! *One-tap shortcuts to any destination you frequent.*

"Hey Siri, navigate home".

[Char Jackson]

Post by Wally J
Voila! *One-tap shortcuts to any destination you frequent.*
<https://i.postimg.cc/5NVLS0Dv/shortcut-home.jpg>
How to make a one-tap Google Maps homescreen shortcut to any location
(without ever needing any login account on the Google servers)
Illustration: <https://i.postimg.cc/5NVLS0Dv/shortcut-home.jpg>

Isn't that functionality already built in? If I understand what you're doing, I
open Google Maps, enter the destination, (starting location defaults to "Your
location", which is perfect), then under the 3 dots there's an option called
"Add route to home screen." That's it. When I want to actually navigate to that
destination, it's a single click to launch Google maps in Nav mode. No third
party apps required.

Or, as Alan suggested, just speak the destination if you know it.

[Wally J]

Post by Char Jackson

Post by Wally J
Illustration: <https://i.postimg.cc/5NVLS0Dv/shortcut-home.jpg>

Isn't that functionality already built in?
If I understand what you're doing, I
open Google Maps, enter the destination, (starting location defaults to "Your
location", which is perfect), then under the 3 dots there's an option called
"Add route to home screen." That's it.

That works also.

Post by Char Jackson
When I want to actually navigate to that
destination, it's a single click to launch Google maps in Nav mode. No third
party apps required.

The point is this is a general purpose method that also works for other map
apps such as with OSMAnd~ offline maps - which may not (and probably which
do not) have that easy to use "add to homescreen" option inside the app.

But I do agree with you that your method works just fine - and - I agree
that it's even easier - as long as the app has that "add to homescreen".

Post by Char Jackson
Or, as Alan suggested, just speak the destination if you know it.

Try that "Hey Siri" method with OSMAnd+ for why you want to know how to
create your own shortcuts to anything you can reach in the Android GUI.

What matters is you can make a shortcut to _anything_ you can see on
Android, which "Hey Siri" and "OK Google" (or "Hey Google") just can't do.

This shortcut method requires no logging into any mothership accounts
(which the poor Apple users don't even realize they're doing 24/7/365).

But I do agree with you that the method you showed is easier - as long as
the app has internal to itself the ability to make the shortcut for you.

But what if it doesn't?

[Frankie]

Post by Wally J

Post by Char Jackson

Post by Wally J
Illustration: <https://i.postimg.cc/5NVLS0Dv/shortcut-home.jpg>

Isn't that functionality already built in?
If I understand what you're doing, I
open Google Maps, enter the destination, (starting location defaults to "Your
location", which is perfect), then under the 3 dots there's an option called
"Add route to home screen." That's it.

That works also.

Not so fast. I tried this for an hour. Until I gave up on the Google Maps
three dots approach (as simple as it seemed to be described above).

It took that long to figure out that the three dots don't always exist.

You don't get those three dots if you don't have a Google account.
At least I didn't get those three dots no matter how hard I tried.

Clicking around I found this was my situation.

1. Start Google Maps (with all three radios turned on that it needs).
GPS Location + Wi-Fi scanning + Google Location Accuracy

2. Search for "100 Main Street, Houston, Texas" and you will see
a "Directions" button in blue at the bottom but no three dots anywhere.

3. When you tap that big blue "Directions" button, you'll get a request
to "Choose start location" but no three dots anywhere.

4. If you click around though, you can tap the circle-person default
avatar at the top right and then you'll see these six options
Your profile
Your Timeline
Location sharing
Offline maps
Settings
Help & feedback

5. If you tap "Location sharing" then you do get the three dots at
the top right of the screen. Tapping the three dots gets you a
four-part menu.
Blocked users
Help
Send feedback
Add to Home screen

6. But when I added the icon to the home screen, tapping it brings
me to the "Location sharing" page which won't work without
a Google login.

So I'm not sure how to consistently get the three dots you speak of
because when I run a search, the microphone icon is in the place where
you'd expect the three dots to be.

And if you back up, you get the circle-person default avatar at the
top right - but there are no three dots anywhere to be found.

[Frank Slootweg]

Post by Frankie

Post by Wally J

Post by Wally J
Illustration: <https://i.postimg.cc/5NVLS0Dv/shortcut-home.jpg>

Isn't that functionality already built in? If I understand what
you're doing, I open Google Maps, enter the destination, (starting
location defaults to "Your location", which is perfect), then under
the 3 dots there's an option called "Add route to home screen."
That's it.

That works also.

Not so fast. I tried this for an hour. Until I gave up on the Google Maps
three dots approach (as simple as it seemed to be described above).
It took that long to figure out that the three dots don't always exist.
You don't get those three dots if you don't have a Google account.
At least I didn't get those three dots no matter how hard I tried.
Clicking around I found this was my situation.
1. Start Google Maps (with all three radios turned on that it needs).
GPS Location + Wi-Fi scanning + Google Location Accuracy
2. Search for "100 Main Street, Houston, Texas" and you will see
a "Directions" button in blue at the bottom but no three dots anywhere.
3. When you tap that big blue "Directions" button, you'll get a request
to "Choose start location" but no three dots anywhere.
4. If you click around though, you can tap the circle-person default
avatar at the top right and then you'll see these six options
Your profile
Your Timeline
Location sharing
Offline maps
Settings
Help & feedback
5. If you tap "Location sharing" then you do get the three dots at
the top right of the screen. Tapping the three dots gets you a
four-part menu.
Blocked users
Help
Send feedback
Add to Home screen
6. But when I added the icon to the home screen, tapping it brings
me to the "Location sharing" page which won't work without
a Google login.
So I'm not sure how to consistently get the three dots you speak of
because when I run a search, the microphone icon is in the place where
you'd expect the three dots to be.
And if you back up, you get the circle-person default avatar at the
top right - but there are no three dots anywhere to be found.

Unless you have left out some step you did, you didn't give a
destination! Without a destination, there can't be a route (to a
destination). Without a route, there obviously can't be a "Add route to
Home screen" function.

So just *follow* Char Jackson's steps and you'll be fine:

[Rewind/repeat:]

<CJ>

Post by Frankie

Post by Wally J

Isn't that functionality already built in? If I understand what
you're doing, I open Google Maps, enter the destination, (starting
location defaults to "Your location", which is perfect), then under
the 3 dots there's an option called "Add route to home screen."
That's it.

</CJ>

BTW, please don't snip attribution lines (in this case the one
pointing to Char Jackson's contribution).

[Frankie]

Post by Frank Slootweg
Unless you have left out some step you did, you didn't give a
destination! Without a destination, there can't be a route (to a
destination). Without a route, there obviously can't be a "Add route to
Home screen" function.

Isn't "100 Main Street Houston Texas" the destination?

When you type that in, you see the following items in the destination field
(and at the same time, the map zooms into that destination with a red pin).

First you see a back arrow to the left of the destination field.
Then you see the address (truncated with ... at the end to fit).
Then you see an "x" to wipe it out in case you made a mistake.
And lastly you see the microphone icon at the far right.

There are no three dots in this "destination" field that I see.
You can hit "Directions" in the blue box at the bottom.
So maybe you mean to press the "Directions" button?

When you press the blue "Directions" button at the bottom a new screen
comes up with asks "Choose start location" and at the right of that is an
up/down arrow (which just reverses the start and destination locations).

When you tap on "Choose start location" you get the choice of
"Your location" (which is the blue-dot default) or "Choose on map."

When you tap on "Choose start location", my Google Maps asks "Allow Maps to
access this device's location" either "While using the app" or "Only this
time" or "Don't allow" where I always select "Only this time" (even though
I had already turned on all three radios, GPS location + GPS Location +
Wi-Fi scanning + Google Location Accuracy).

Oh. I see now. When I pressed "Only this time" it brought me up again to
the maps with "Your location" at the top and "100 Main Street" below it.

At the bottom, instead of blue "Directions" is a blue "Start" button.
Now I see the three dots at the top right you & Char Jackson spoke of!

When I tap those three dots in the "Start" screen, then I get this
Options
Add stop
Search along route
Set depart or arrive time
Add route to Home screen
Share directions
Share your location
About these results

When I tap the "Add route to Home screen", then it does what was said!

Thank you for explaining that it's not the "Directions" page that has the
three dots but the "Start" page that has those important three dots!

This is nice because it means that a map shortcut (for example, to the
local emergency room) can be put on everyone's phone in the house) without
having to install any extra software to create that directions shortcut.

It will only work with Google Maps but that's my only map program anyway.

[Frank Slootweg]

Post by Frankie

Post by Frank Slootweg
Unless you have left out some step you did, you didn't give a
destination! Without a destination, there can't be a route (to a
destination). Without a route, there obviously can't be a "Add route to
Home screen" function.

Isn't "100 Main Street Houston Texas" the destination?

It is the *intended* destination, but as 'Wally J'/'Arlen Holder'
hadn't set an *origin*, the address was just that, an address.

I.e. without an origin or a destination, there is no route, so no "Add
Home screen" function.

You found the same in your experiments: As soon as both the start
location and the destination had been set, the three-vertical-dots icon
appears and you can select ""Add route to Home screen" from that menu.

[...]

Post by Frankie
Thank you for explaining that it's not the "Directions" page that has the
three dots but the "Start" page that has those important three dots!
This is nice because it means that a map shortcut (for example, to the
local emergency room) can be put on everyone's phone in the house) without
having to install any extra software to create that directions shortcut.
It will only work with Google Maps but that's my only map program anyway.

[Frankie]

Post by Frank Slootweg
I.e. without an origin or a destination, there is no route, so no "Add
Home screen" function.
You found the same in your experiments: As soon as both the start
location and the destination had been set, the three-vertical-dots icon
appears and you can select ""Add route to Home screen" from that menu.

I see now that you need a completed route and not just a one-ended address.

Since I tend to operate with all the permissions turned off, I found you
can keep the GPS + Wi-Fi scanning + Precise location switches off and still
be able to "Add route to Home screen" if you arbitrarily choose a location
on the Google map for the starting point after you type in the destination.

In that situation of choosing the starting point for the route on the map,
you don't get a blue "Start" button but a blue "Preview" button instead.

With either the "Start" or "Preview" button you get the three dots that
leads to the "Add route to Home screen" menu you & Char Jackson spoke of.

I just added my dentist where I did an images.google.com to get icons for
dentistry so that I don't have to read the wording below the route icon.

Do you think these home screen shortcuts can be copied to my wife's phone?

[Frank Slootweg]

Post by Frankie

Post by Frank Slootweg
I.e. without an origin or a destination, there is no route, so no "Add
Home screen" function.
You found the same in your experiments: As soon as both the start
location and the destination had been set, the three-vertical-dots icon
appears and you can select ""Add route to Home screen" from that menu.

I see now that you need a completed route and not just a one-ended address.
Since I tend to operate with all the permissions turned off, I found you
can keep the GPS + Wi-Fi scanning + Precise location switches off and still
be able to "Add route to Home screen" if you arbitrarily choose a location
on the Google map for the starting point after you type in the destination.
In that situation of choosing the starting point for the route on the map,
you don't get a blue "Start" button but a blue "Preview" button instead.
With either the "Start" or "Preview" button you get the three dots that
leads to the "Add route to Home screen" menu you & Char Jackson spoke of.
I just added my dentist where I did an images.google.com to get icons for
dentistry so that I don't have to read the wording below the route icon.
Do you think these home screen shortcuts can be copied to my wife's phone?

The menu which has the 'Add route to Home screen' function, also has
a 'Share directions' function, so you can share the directions via one
of the many sharing/communication methods it presents.

I did a share to myself using WhatsApp. In WhatsApp I received a
maps.app.goo.gl link. If I click on that link, the Maps app opens with
the route and I can do 'Add route to Home screen'.

I shared the directions - via WhatsApp - to myself, but I could of
course also share it - via WhatsApp or some other sharing/communication
method - to someone else. So you could share the directions with/to your
wife's phone.

[Wally J]

Post by Char Jackson

Post by Wally J
Voila! *One-tap shortcuts to any destination you frequent.*
<https://i.postimg.cc/5NVLS0Dv/shortcut-home.jpg>
How to make a one-tap Google Maps homescreen shortcut to any location
(without ever needing any login account on the Google servers)
Illustration: <https://i.postimg.cc/5NVLS0Dv/shortcut-home.jpg>

Isn't that functionality already built in? If I understand what you're doing, I
open Google Maps, enter the destination, (starting location defaults to "Your
location", which is perfect), then under the 3 dots there's an option called
"Add route to home screen." That's it. When I want to actually navigate to that
destination, it's a single click to launch Google maps in Nav mode. No third
party apps required.

It's nice to have two slightly different methods to create a one-tap
homescreen shortcut to the Google Maps destination of your choosing.

Especially for emergency destinations - such as the nearest hospital.

However - one method works for _all_ map programs. The other doesn't.

Even for the convenient method outlined by Char Jackson for the Google Maps
program, there is a distinct, albeit minor difference in that the generic
method I showed does NOT require you to choose a starting location since
Google Maps will (apparently - at least in my tests) assume your current
position when it opens up to a "Finding best route..." message.

So the only real difference is the generic method works for more than one
map app and it only needs the destination (and not the starting point).

However, the generic method requires an additional (free) app, while the
nice Google-Maps specific method Char Jackson kindly outlined does not.

Thank you for fleshing out the tutorial so that it's of better use to all!