Phantom Shell works kind of like having a command line for your phone. Instead of digging through menus or tapping a bunch of icons, you just type what you want to do. If you type an app’s name, it opens. If you add a search after it, it’ll search inside that app—for example, typing “YouTube GTA 6” opens YouTube with GTA 6 already searched.
It can also search Google, Amazon, Reddit, Maps, the Play Store, Instagram, and other services just by typing a command. You can call or text people, manage contacts, create folders, take notes, set reminders, timers, alarms, and even do math without opening separate apps.
The coolest part is that you can make your own commands. So if you always search Google, you could make “G” mean Google, and then typing “G weather” would instantly search Google for the weather. You can also customize buttons, folders, and shortcuts so the launcher works the way you think.
It even has system tools built in, like checking battery, RAM, storage, clipboard history, toggling the flashlight, muting your phone, managing permissions, and launching apps by package name if you’re into more advanced stuff.
Basically, it’s designed so almost everything you normally do by tapping around your phone can be done by typing a quick command instead. Once you get used to it, it’s often much faster than using a traditional home screen. And once you start creating shortcuts and adding the shortcuts to buttons you can execute a task in a matter of seconds without ever opening an app.
List of commands:
[App name] Opens app by name
[Name] [Query] Searches inside an app (typing Maps coffee will open maps with a list of nearby coffee shops)
[Set X to Y] keyboard shortcuts. You can say something like “Set Y to YouTube” then instead of typing out YouTube you can just type Y. It also works for searches if you type “Y GTA6” it will open YouTube with GTA6 search results
[Time] typing just a time like 6:00am, 9pm, 22:30 will automatically set an alarm for that time
[Length of time] 5m, 2h, 2.5min etc will automatically start a timer for that set amount of time
[Text at Time / Text in Length of Time] sets a reminder. Like typing “Feed cat at 6:30pm” or “Start dinner in 15m”. You can also delete reminders set if you no longer need them by just typing “Cancel Feed cat” or “Del Reminder Start dinner”
[Equation] typing any math problem (5x5)
[SYS:] or [APP:] [App name] for example by default typing “Notes” will open the built in notes windows. There are 100 note apps you could mean. If you have an app that is named the same as a system window this allows you to clarify which you mean. SYS:Notes will open the system notes window. APP:Notes will open the app you have installed also named notes
[Quick] Opens the Quick Contact window
[Quick add] [Name] lets you set a contact name to the Quick Contact window
[Quick Del] [Number] delete a contact
[Quick move] [Number to Number] lets you organize the list
[Contact Name] Type in a contact name to open their contact card
[Call / Text] [Name] calls or texts a contact
[Set Button 1-9 to whatever you want] Typing “Set Button 3 to Snapchat” sets button 3 to Snapchat. Typing “Set Button 3 to Folder named Social” makes button 3 a folder named social. Then you can type “Add Instagram to Social” to add instagram to the social folder you just created
[Rename Old folder name to new name] say I have a folder named Example. Typing rename Example to Social will rename the folder to Social
[Url] opens url in whatever your default browser is
[Set button 3 to url www.example.com named Example] sets button 3 to open url and sets button name
[add url www.example.com named Example to “Folder Name”] same as adding to a button but the button is in a folder
[Flash, Flashlight or Torch] toggles your flashlight (you can also set this to a button)
[Mute / Unmute] silences / un silences
[Sys] system info
[Clear] erases terminal’s history
[Paste] shows your clipboard history
[?] Help screen