Pixel Launcher

Google is rolling out Android 13 Beta 3.2 this afternoon, and it brings more user-facing changes, especially to the Pixel Launcher, than usual for a patch.

Google officially announced that At a Glance on Pixel phones would be getting Nest Doorbell integration at the start of this month and it’s now widely rolling out.

The latest Android 13 Beta 3 build has tweaked the gesture navigation bar to be more prominent with a larger, bolder “pill” to help make it stand out. It appears that this change has been fairly divisive, but what do you think?

Announced on Monday as part of the June Feature Drop, the Pixel’s At a Glance widget now offers a very convenient Flashlight reminder and control. 

As part of Google’s continued expansion of the Pixel series’ At a Glance features, you may soon get notifications of package deliveries spotted by your Nest Doorbell.

With Android 12, the Pixel Launcher introduced a new on-device search experience at the top of the app launcher. While it’s temporarily gone from Android 13 Beta 1, the Pixel Launcher is working on search shortcuts beyond the Google app.

With the March Feature Drop, Google announced that At a Glance on Pixel was getting a handful of new capabilities. After a slow rollout that did not start until the end of last month, the new features should be more widely available today.

It should soon be possible to use the At a Glance widget on Pixel phones to keep track of your grocery orders, including when pickups are ready and when deliveries are on their way.

Last Thursday, the first users started to see “Connected devices” info for Bluetooth headphones appear at the top of the Pixel Launcher and on the lockscreen. Google is now rolling out an “Earthquake alert” warning to At a Glance.

With the March Feature Drop, Google announced that your Pixel’s home and lockscreen would start showing more contextual information. As the month comes to an end, At a Glance is only now beginning to roll out the “Connected devices” Bluetooth integration.

With the Pixel 6 and Android 12, Google redesigned At a Glance to be left-aligned and made it just open the Weather app by default. Android 12L makes it so that tapping At a Glance’s top line opens Google Calendar again.

Following the redesign in Android 12, calls from Pixel owners that want the option to remove At a Glance have only increased. It’s unlikely that will happen anytime soon as Google is very much in the middle of justifying At a Glance’s existence and making it a pillar of the helpful Pixel experience.

With Android 12, the Pixel Launcher introduced a new “Search your phone” capability. Google is now testing search results from Google Photos in the Pixel Launcher on Android 13.

Android 12L was all about preparing “stock” Android for foldables and improving the experience on bigger screens. Now, in the first developer preview for Android 13, we’re getting a first look at the Pixel Launcher’s new ability to support multiple display layouts on one device, almost certainly for future foldables.

The Pixel Launcher’s popular “At a Glance” widget was overhauled with the Android 12 update, but it’s now gaining even more new features including doorbell camera previews, while a potential settings redesign hints at the addition of flashlight activation reminders and more.

Yesterday’s December patch introduced a slew of fixes that add polish to key Android 12 experiences like homescreen widgets. One such change addresses how Material You customization was largely incomplete due to the absence of widgets.

The Pixel Launcher has, for years, supported a special widget known as “At a Glance,” which can show contextual information such as calendar appointments. With the Pixel 6, At a Glance is upgraded to support more features, but it still can’t be removed from the homescreen. It’s time for that to change.

One of the more annoying bugs in Android 12 Beta 5 is the lack of weather in At a Glance on the Pixel Launcher. Google now looks to be rolling out a fix for this problem. 

In June, Google redesigned Discover to be “more streamlined” by removing article descriptions and making other visual tweaks. On Android 12, the Google Discover feed to the left of the Pixel Launcher has added more Material You flourishes.