Launch Center Pro Now Lets You Launch Apps From The iPhone’s Notification Center

Launch Center Pro Now Lets You Launch Apps From The iPhone’s Notification Center

When Apple first introduced its widgets platform in iOS 8, the company blocked developers from releasing apps that launched other apps via widgets added to the “Today View” in the Notification Center on the iPhone or iPad. However, Apple later relaxed the rules, allowing apps like Launcher, Workflow, and others to push the boundaries of widgets from being those that simply displayed information to those that allowed you to also take actions by way of other apps.

Today, a longtime favorite utility, Launch Center Pro, which describes itself as a “speed dial for everyday tasks,” is joining the competition with the release of its own Today View widget for iPhone.

The updated app has also expanded to support over 100,000 new apps, which is roughly 20 times more than any other iOS launcher app, making it now the one to beat when it comes to the breadth of the selection offered. With this extensive line-up, the new widget also supports more app actions, as well, so you can do just about anything you want right from from the iPhone’s Notification Center.

In case you’re not familiar with Launch Center Pro, this premium app from Contrast was designed especially for iPhone power users who wanted a quicker and easier way to launch quick actions from a single interface. Its app offers a variety of shortcuts that let you do a number of different things, like placing a call to a favorite friend, sending a photo to a group, scanning a barcode, searching Yelp for a nearby coffee shop, controlling your Nest thermostat by IFTTT, kicking off a FaceTime call, tweeting a GIF, and much, much more.

The idea is that users can customize their Launch Center Pro screen with their own favorite and commonly used actions to make it easier for them to perform those everyday tasks, without having to dig around on their iPhone for the correct app.

However, similar to competitor Workflow, this kind of functionality just makes more sense when accessed from a widget rather than its own app. That’s why it’s been great for end users that mobile developers have been able to move these shortcuts to the iOS Notification Center itself.

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