Tips on how to use the Pixel launcher to be extra productive in your telephone

Personalizing your telephone together with your favourite apps is among the defining options of smartphones and is on the market on principally any of those you should buy: Android, iOS, or in any other case. Past that, your means to customise your telephone can fluctuate. Each telephone maker will allow you to change your wallpaper, however not all of them will allow you to change the core fundamentals of how your telephone works. A singular facet of Android gadgets particularly is their means to run launchers — the software program that governs how your house display features and the way you arrange and cargo into apps — apart from those they ship with.

Altering your launcher is among the greatest adjustments you possibly can regulate how your telephone feels to make use of. There are dozens of great third-party Android launchers, however you might need every little thing you want with the one your telephone shipped with. The Pixel launcher that comes on all of Google’s first-party telephones and tablets is not flashy, nevertheless it has sufficient built-in options that it might assist you to really feel extra productive and fewer hooked up to your telephone with the fitting setup. This is how I am leveraging the Pixel launcher on my Pixel 9 to be a bit extra productive at work, and steering on how you must strategy the Pixel telephone in your pocket.

Let the launcher do the give you the results you want

Make your telephone self-sufficient

My normal logic for private devices and smartphones particularly is that you must regulate your house display and lock display in order that they serve what you want to do in your telephone and never the opposite manner round. You must begin there, as a result of even on a telephone with a whole lot of apps on it, you continue to spend lots of time trying on the app grid or notifications in your lock display. If you may get away with solely hanging on the market and never diving into an app, you must.

The primary place you may wish to head to start out organising your Pixel is “Residence settings,” which you’ll simply entry by long-pressing on your house display and tapping on “Residence settings” within the contextual menu that pops up. I prefer to allow a number of settings in there, like At a Look, Google’s widget that pulls and shows data from throughout its companies everytime you want it most, be it your Calendar, your Gmail, or simply the climate. It is not flashy, however you possibly can’t declare it would not work.

I might additionally regulate the next choices:

• Flip Swipe to entry Google app on to entry information proper from your house display.
• Flip Add app icons to dwelling display off so you possibly can determine when and if you wish to add an app to your house display.
• Flip Notification dots on so in the event you even must faucet on an app within the first place.

After getting these taken care of, there are just a few different choices I prefer to tweak within the sub-menus of Residence settings. Relying in your telephone’s finest guess of what app you want sounds a bit regarding, however each iOS and Android are fairly good at suggesting apps and once they’re improper, the friction of discovering what you truly need may very well be sufficient to get you off your telephone when you do not should be on it.

With that in thoughts, inside Solutions, activate Solutions in all apps checklist and Solutions on Residence display to start out seeing the apps your Pixel thinks you must open. As a rule of thumb, I depart one spot within the backside row of apps on my dwelling display open for these ideas. You will additionally wish to head into Search settings and ensure that Swipe as much as begin search and Net search are each on. That manner, you possibly can simply look issues up straight from your house display.

So far as your lock display and the final aesthetic of each your lock display and residential display go, lots of it may be left as much as private choice. Within the Settings app, the principle sections you may wish to give attention to are the Show & contact and Wallpaper & type sub-menus. As you may anticipate, you can also make your telephone suit your visible aesthetic beneath Wallpaper & type. Google has a pleasant choice of wallpapers, however I’ve admittedly had extra enjoyable taking part in with its device for creating AI-generated ones (the extra summary and pattern-like the wallpaper could be, the higher). On this similar menu you must activate Present notifications on lock display and determine what you need your lock display shortcuts to be. I exploit the flashlight and Do Not Disturb mode, however there are different choices like Google Pockets or the Google Residence app, too.

Lastly, head to Show & contact after which faucet on Lock display to allow the Now Playing feature so you possibly can determine songs with out having to ask Google Assistant or Gemini. You must also make certain Dynamic Clock is on and All the time present time and information is disabled to avoid wasting additional battery life. Tweak any remaining settings based mostly in your choice and concern for privateness. Generally, although, the extra you are able to do with out unlocking your telephone, the higher.

Most apps solely should be glanced at

With these fundamentals set, I like to consider workflow. I primarily use my Pixel 9 for work (each for calls and electronic mail, and as a Android gadget to check issues on) whereas my iPhone 16 acts as my private telephone. The apps I wish to be instantly out there on a piece telephone are apps that contain work duties, like Gmail, Slack, or Chrome. The remainder of my telephone I attempt to depart as widgets — issues I am monitoring, however need not often work together with.

I prefer to have a complete display dedicated to an enormous Google Calendar widget I can test on a whim and one other web page with no matter process tracker my employer makes use of, on this case Asana, with another glanceable data I feel is likely to be helpful, just like the battery lifetime of my Pixel and Pixel Buds. It is value experimenting with what works finest for you, however my technique is to have your first display solely embrace what you want, leaving the remainder of your app icons to be reached for within the app drawer, and solely when you actually need them. That manner, you keep away from the temptation of randomly checking apps and solely hold the necessities (and what your Pixel thinks you may use) close by.

The Pixel launcher offers you simply sufficient

You most likely want fewer options than you assume

Google’s launcher is distinct from conventional Android, nevertheless it’s not precisely bursting with stylistic thrives or wild options. It is restrained. And in the event you’re sincere with your self, you most likely will not use a lot of the options of a extra difficult Android launcher anyway.

As this information hopefully exhibits, you actually do not want quite a bit to arrange a telephone that works for you quite than towards you. The launcher preinstalled in your telephone will most likely do the trick with the fitting settings enabled. If you’re nonetheless concerned with exploring different launchers, Pocket-lint has a list of some of the best. If you happen to’d as a substitute like one thing much more targeted on holding your telephone use easy, you may additionally contemplate learning more about Niagra Launcher.