When you click a link in an app on your Android device, what happens is you are taken to the web browser for you to see the webpage. While that is what it is supposed to do, it distracts what you are currently doing with the app that had that link. In most cases you just get lost in the linked webpage and forget to return to the original app to finish your work.
Having the ability to open a link in the background is a highly anticipated feature that we would all like to see in future versions of Android. For now you can use a third-party app to get the job done on your device.
Flynx for Android is an app that lets you load web links in the background on your device. Whenever you come across a link in any app on your device and you click on it, it will load in the background instead of taking you to the web browser to show the webpage. That way you can focus on the work that you are currently doing with the app and see the webpage when you are done.
Here’s how you can use the app on your device.
Opening Links in the Background on an Android Device
The app is available for free.
Download and install Flynx from the Google Play store on your device.
Launch the app from your app drawer. It will walk you through the features showing what it can do.
Now launch an app that has a web link you can click on. It will check if the app is working properly and if it is really loading links in the background on your device.
I have opened an email in the Gmail app to demonstrate the functionality of the app.
Click on the link, and you will be asked what app you would like to launch the link in. At this stage choose “Flynx” from the list, and tap on “Just once” to load the link in the background on your device. You can choose “Always” instead of “Just once” should you want all of your links to always load in the background.
You should see a bubble in the left side of the screen. That is where the clicked link is being loaded. You can continue using the current app, and when you are done, click the bubble and it will show you the webpage.
You should now be able to see the webpage. If you want to hide it for a while, you can just click the bubble again, and the webpage will close for you to see the background app.
You can have multiple links load in the background on your device. For these links you will see multiple bubbles appearing on your screen.
Conclusion
Should you want to open a link without distracting your current work, you can use the app above, and it will load all of your clicked links in the background on your device. When you are done, click the bubbles, and your webpages will be right there on your screen.
Mahesh Makvana is a freelance tech writer who’s written thousands of posts about various tech topics on various sites. He specializes in writing about Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android tech posts. He’s been into the field for last eight years and hasn’t spent a single day without tinkering around his devices.
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