How to set up and use the Productivity Tab on the BlackBerry Priv

One of the things BlackBerry is loved for is its productivity credentials. One of the nifty features brought to Android with the BlackBerry Priv is the Productivity Tab, an at a glance view of some of the most important information in your day. You may well have the Hub doing a bunch of the heavy lifting but the Productivity Tab can get you quick access to favorite contacts, your calendars, email and tasks list.

Accessing it is easy once you're set up. A simple swipe in either the left or right hand edges of the phone bring up what you see in the image up top. And you can tweak how it looks and where it's positioned on the screen.

How to enable the Productivity Tab

• Either through the notification tray or the app drawer open up "Settings."
• Scroll down and tap on "Display."
• Scroll down almost to the bottom where you'll see an option for "Productivity Tab."
• Make sure the toggle is set to on.

Now, you're basically set up. You'll see a tab appear by default on the right hand edge of the screen, whichever app you're in, about two thirds of the way up. To access the Productivity Tab just swipe in over this tab.

Customizing position and appearance

The key thing is that you can move the tab to wherever it's going to be most comfortable for you to access easily and you can change how transparent it is. You can make it almost completely fade away if you want.

• Swipe in over your Productivity Tab to open the main screen.
• Tap on the settings cog in the top right hand corner.
• The options in front of you can make it go away, move to the left or right edge, change the height and the transparency to your liking.

To move it up or down the edge of the screen simply go back to the home screen, hold your finger over the tab until you feel a vibration, and drag it around to wherever you want to put it.

But as with all of the custom software BlackBerry included on the Priv, the choice is yours over whether you actually use it or not.