Google Pixel phones come loaded with genuinely useful features, but not all of them are enabled out of the box.In fact, it's a bit backwards sometimes—some of the most useful features are disabled by default, while features I don't care for are turned on from day one.That's why going through the settings and tweaking them to your liking is worth the few minutes it takes.
Here are the five features I always change on every Pixel phone I set up.The feature names and their exact locations described here are based on Android 17, which is available on all supported Pixel devices at the time of writing.Enable screen attention The screen should stay awake for as long as you need it Close The first feature is called Screen Attention, and you'll find it by heading to Settings > Display & Touch > Screen timeout and then scrolling toward the bottom.
Once enabled, it keeps your screen from turning off as long as you're looking at it, even if you're not actively touching it.You probably already know that the screen has a big impact on your phone's battery life, so one of the smartest things you can do is reduce the screen timeout.However, the problem with doing that is that the screen can turn off in the middle of reading a message or an article unless you’re constantly touching the display.
Screen Attention fixes that.It uses the front-facing camera to check whether you're looking at the screen, and if you are, it prevents the timeout from kicking in.It's a layer of convenience that works best when paired with a short timeout, like 15–30 seconds.
This way, most of the time, the screen turns off quickly and saves battery, but when I'm actually reading something, it stays on.That said, while you're in there, it's also worth enabling Adaptive Timeout.It works in the opposite direction by turning off the screen quickly, even before the set timeout, if you're not using it.
Related Your phone's real battery problem isn't the capacity—it's what's running in the background OK Google, bye.Posts By Bertel King Enable auto-rotate with face detection Auto-rotate perfected Close You probably already know how auto-rotate works—you turn your phone sideways to watch something full-width, and the screen rotates accordingly.It's handy, but I've always kept it disabled for one reason: when I'm lying down and scrolling through my social feeds or YouTube, the phone thinks I've rotated it and flips the entire screen sideways.
Face detection solves this.Instead of relying solely on the phone's orientation sensors, it also uses the front-facing camera to check the orientation of your face relative to the screen.If I'm lying on my side with the phone held sideways, my face and the screen are aligned the same way, so the content stays put—no flipping.
To make it flip, I'd actually have to turn my phone upright while still lying down, which makes my face perpendicular to the screen and causes the content to rotate.This one lives in Settings > Display > Other display controls > Auto-rotate screen.From here, enable Use Auto-Rotate, followed by Face Detection underneath it.
Turn off At a Glance It’s about time this became optional Close Google Pixel users have been waiting for this one for way too long.Up until Android 16, if you used the default launcher, the top of your home screen was permanently occupied by the At a Glance widget.It shows the date, day, and weather, and surfaces things like upcoming calendar events, live sports scores, and traffic information when you're heading somewhere.
The idea is cool, but the fact that you couldn't turn it off made it a bit intrusive, in my opinion.In fact, I know plenty of folks—myself included—who would rather use that extra screen real estate for apps or another widget.Thankfully, with Android 16, you can finally remove the widget.
Just long-press an empty area of the home screen to bring up the launcher settings, tap Home settings, and you'll see the At a Glance option sitting at the top.Tap it, toggle it off, and you've just made your home screen a lot cleaner.Related 4 useful Android widgets that actually deserve space on your home screen The right widget can make all the difference in how you actually use your apps.
Posts 7 By Nick Lewis Make the power button open the power menu It’s called the power button for a reason Close On Pixels and most modern Android smartphones, long-pressing the power button triggers Gemini.I understand the rationale behind having this as the default behavior—I mean, how often do we actually turn off our phones these days? A tap to lock and a long press for a more commonly used function does make sense on paper.That being said, Pixels, and most Android phones in general, are riddled with ways to access Gemini.
You can say "Hey Google" to call the AI assistant.Alternatively, you can swipe diagonally from the corner of the screen to trigger it.You can even place a Gemini widget on your home screen for quick access.
With these many ways to access Gemini, dedicating the power button to it as well feels like overkill.Ideally, Android should make it possible to assign any action to a long press of the power button.And although that's not possible by default, you can technically install an app like Button Mapper to assign a different action to a long press of the power button.
However, for me personally, I'm a bit old-school and simply want the power button to bring up the power menu.To make that happen, all you have to do is open Settings > System > Gestures > Press and hold the power button and switch it from Digital Assistant to the Power menu.Enable Flip to Shhh Automate your phone etiquette Close You've probably been in this scenario—you're in a meeting or having dinner with friends and family, you forgot to switch your phone to DND (Do Not Disturb), and it goes off loudly in the middle of the conversation.
Sure, it practically might not be a huge deal, but it's certainly impolite.And then there's the opposite scenario, where you remember to turn on DND but forget to turn it off.I've had this happen to me countless times when, after a meeting, I go about my day and notice hours later that I had 13 missed calls because my phone was silent.
If you ask me, that's arguably worse.Flip to Shhh solves this issue by intelligently moving you in and out of DND.When you're in a meeting, you probably already put your phone face down, and with Flip to Shhh enabled, that automatically puts your phone in DND mode.
The moment you pick it back up, it automatically exits DND.Related Forget "Do Not Disturb"—I use this ancient phone toggle instead DnD is good at blocking distractions, but sometimes you need a more forceful option.Posts 12 By Nate Pangaro The Pixel experience is better when you make it your own Your phone is probably the most personal piece of technology you own.
As such, instead of relying on the defaults, it's important to go through all the settings and enable or disable features based on your actual priorities.Even as intelligent as a Pixel is, it's not a mind reader, and configuring it to your preferences will give you the best experience.
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