Many users buy Pixel phones to get a clean and smooth Android experience. The Pixel phone do live up to it, but you might be disappointed with some of the company’s decisions regarding the launcher. Many of us at Android Police love our Pixel phones, but not the launcher, and one of the main reasons is the lack of customization options.
On the bright side, it looks like Google has taken note and is now working to fix Pixel Launcher’s major quirks. People at Android Authority have provided evidence showing what problem this will solve and how.
Google’s Pixel Launcher wants to allow users to regain a little more control
One of the biggest complaints about Pixel Launcher is the lack of flexibility of the At a Glance widget. Although it displays useful information such as the weather or calendar events, you cannot remove it from your home screen even when you turn off all its features. One of the interesting reviews came from a Reddit user u/bestbuyguy69who summed up his frustration by calling it “a nice thing Apple would do.”
However, this limitation might soon become a thing of the past as Android Authority has spotted a new “Show on Home Screen” toggle in the At a Glance settings of the latest Android Canary with Android System Intelligence build B.17.playstore.pixel10.825046611. The new toggle doesn’t work at the moment, but it’s a pretty strong hint that Google is actively working to allow users to remove the home screen widget altogether.
Ideally, when the new option is available to Pixel users, turning off the toggle should remove all At a Glance items, including date and day, from the Home screen. This is currently not possible because the date and day will still display even if you turn off the At a Glance toggle. For now, the only way to get rid of it is to install another one on your Pixel phone.
However, the new toggle in the At a Glance settings does not guarantee that the feature will make it to the final release. Google has a habit of removing useful features in the middle of their development, and the same thing could happen in this case as well.
In addition to the ability to remove At a Glance from our Pixel home screens, the Pixel Launcher is currently missing other core features, including support for third-party icon packs, the inability to reposition the Google search bar, and more. We’d love to see Google fix them all in the future.
