Google knocks it out of the park with Pixel phones every single time.The UI is just pure Android in its best form.Despite any glitches a Google Pixel might have at launch, millions of users love and adore the devices regardless, and flock to buy them right out of the gate.
Add How-To Geek on Google Add as Preferred Source Follow on Google Discover Heck, I am one of those Pixel fans myself.The Google Pixel 6 is one of my favorite Android devices to date.I still remember the way the visual appeal of Android 12 Material You gave me pure dopamine hits when Google first unveiled it to the world.
Although my Pixel 6 didn't last long enough, and I switched to OnePlus and then Samsung, I never felt the same way about any Android UI again.At least, not until last year, when I caved and bought the Pixel 10 Pro.What makes a Pixel a Pixel is the software experience.
Believe it or not, you can download a couple of apps on your non-Pixel phone to transform it into a Pixel-like experience without a launcher, as long as you have Android 14 or above.This won't change the cameras or the update promise, but it'll emulate the spirit of a Google Pixel phone.Especially if your phone runs stock Android, you can come very close to Google's own software.
I used the NUU B40 5G running Android 15 for this experiment.It runs a very clean, bloat-free stock Android.Some phones may require you to manually disable bloatware or other clunky preinstalled apps to achieve such a neat Pixel-like look.
Shazam is a fantastic Now Playing replacement It even works on the lock screen Now Playing is the best Google Pixel feature that everyone and their grandma is after.It's the tool I missed most when I switched to OnePlus and Samsung devices in the past.Even though Google has built on the tool and made it a standalone app, it remains Pixel-exclusive, so you can't install it on any other Android phone.
Shazam is a fantastic replacement for Now Playing.Apple has made several meaningful upgrades since its acquisition, bringing it closer than ever to Google's music detection app.Close Apart from the home screen widget, you can also add Shazam to the Quick Settings menu.
The app offers two types of tiles: a basic song identification tile and an Auto Shazam tile.Upon tapping, the Auto Shazam tile stays on, much like Now Playing on a Google Pixel phone.It doesn't have a lock screen widget, but it successfully detects titles when your phone screen is locked, though it doesn't look as neat.
Bring Pixel wallpapers to your home and lock screens At no cost to the user Stock branded wallpapers aren't hard to find online, but an app can streamline the process.Pix Wallpapers makes it easy to find them all in one place and apply to your Android phone in a jiffy.It's a free app available on the Google Play Store.
While it has a paid version, you don't need to make any in-app purchases to use the available wallpapers.Expect ads on the free version of the app.What I love about Pix Wallpapers is that you can search for the word Pixel and see all of Google's stock wallpapers from various Pixel launches.
You can also find Apple and Samsung's first-party wallpapers in the app.Pix Wallpapers lets you apply the wallpaper to your home and lock screens from within the app.You can also heart your favorite wallpapers.
Related Material 3 Expressive Finally Made Me Excited About Android Updates Again It took a while, but Android is fun again.Posts By Kabir Jain Turn on themed icons Material 3 Expressive is free! This is not an app, but it's a setting that makes a world of difference.If your phone runs Android 14 or higher, it has Material 3 Expressive built in natively.
This means you can achieve the seamless, automatic, color-matched look found on a Google Pixel.To enable themed icons, head to your phone's wallpaper and style settings menu and select the home screen tab.From there, turn on the toggle for themed icons on your phone.
This option is still in beta, but it works pretty well.You can also pick the automatically populated Material 3 Expressive color scheme from this settings menu.Switch to the lock screen tab to pick the clock color and size.
Stock Google apps and Android widgets are your best friend From At a Glance to YouTube Music Nearly every modern Android phone comes with the complete suite of Google apps.Make sure you install Google Photos, Google Drive, Google Calendar, Google Keep, Google Home, Google TV, Google Chrome, Gmail, Google Contacts, Google Messages, Google Find Hub, Google Maps, Google Meet, Gemini, YouTube, and YouTube Music.Widgets for Google's apps on non-Pixel devices look identical to their Pixel counterparts on Android 14 or higher.
This includes the At a Glance widget, though you don't get the full extent of functions and features as you would on a Pixel phone.The iconic funky clock widgets from Pixels are available to all Android users.Edit the color, style, and size of your widgets, and you'll see just how easy it is to achieve that pure Pixel look.
The visual aesthetics of a Pixel are surprisingly easy to replicate Once everything is installed and ready to go, play around with the widget placement on your phone.Have fun customizing the wallpaper, icons, and themes.Apps like Shazam and Pix Wallpapers are completely free to use and build the Google Pixel experience further.
At the end of the day, it's really just a cohesive color scheme and a healthy number of widgets that create a Pixel look.
Read More
