Pixel How-Tos

How To: Fit More Notification Icons in Your Pixel's Status Bar

In older Android versions, you could flood your status bar with a wall of notification icons. But starting with Android 9, Google made it to where you can only see four icons by default, and it was mostly done to accommodate phones with notches. But Google's only notched phone is the Pixel 3 XL, so what if you have literally any other Pixel?

How To: Block All Robocallers & Telemarketers with Your Pixel's Call Screen Feature

When Google introduced the Call Screen feature with the Pixel 3, I had never been more excited to get a Pixel device. This AI feature provided real protection against rising spam and robocalls, which billions of people deal with each year. After a recent update to the feature, you can reduce robocalls and other spam calls to nearly zero.

How To: Make Your Pixel 4's Notifications Auto-Expand When You Look at Your Lock Screen

When using face unlock on the Pixel 4, your lock screen notifications are bypassed by default to help you unlock your phone instantaneously. This is different than Face ID on the iPhone, which shows the lock screen until you swipe up, but only shows notifications when you've been authenticated. If you want to do it Apple's way, there are settings you can adjust on your Pixel.

How To: Pixel 4 Bootlooping After Installing a Magisk Module? Here's How to Fix It Without TWRP

TWRP won't be ready for the Pixel 4 and 4 XL until months after release. But since you can already root with Magisk and tinker with the OS, you might find yourself in a situation where your phone won't boot, yet you don't have a custom recovery installed to fix it. Luckily, there's still a way around this.

How To: Remap the Soli Motion Sense Gestures on Your Pixel 4 — No Root Needed

Whether you love Motion Sense or think it's a gimmick, one thing we can agree on is that its functionality is limited. It's currently limited to switching tracks on a playlist, snoozing alarms, silencing calls, lowering the volume of alerts, and checking notifications. But a new mod will help you do so much more with it.

How To: Get Custom Themes on Your Google Pixel with Android 10 — No Root Needed

The Pixel 4 comes with a new "Styles and wallpapers" app that lets you change icons, accent colors, and more. But if you're on a first-gen Pixel, a Pixel 2, or a Pixel 3, you don't get this feature. On the bright side, there's still a way to use it.

How To: Root Your Pixel 4 with Magisk — The Easy Way

The Pixel 4 is one of the most talked-about phones of 2019, so you know there will be lots of third-party developer support. Mods are already popping up, so you'll want to get Magisk installed as soon as possible to get root access. The current method used to gain root is the quickest way yet, thanks to the recent TWRP custom recovery support for the Pixel 4.

How To: Unlock the Bootloader on Your Pixel 4

The Pixel 4 is one of the most talked-about phones of 2019, and it has many things going for it, especially in the world of rooting and modding. Just as with previous Pixel generations, unlocking the bootloader is the gateway to realizing your device's true potential. It can make way for such things as TWRP, Magisk, custom ROMs, and many other device-specific mods just the same.

How To: Use the Built-in Document Scanner on Your Google Pixel

Document scanning is possible via the Google Drive app, but my brain doesn't think of opening a cloud storage app to scan a document. I usually just open the camera app and take a picture instead — and apparently, I'm not the only one.

How To: Activate the Hidden Developer Options Menu on Your Pixel 4

If you want to root, it's step one. If you're a tinkerer, it's vital. It's Android's hidden "Developer options" menu, and it's definitely worth taking 30 seconds to unlock.

How To: 12 Things the Specs & Leaks Aren't Telling You About the Pixel 4

You watched the live stream, pored over the specs, and are now super excited for the Google Pixel 4. But specs don't tell you everything. After using the Pixel 4 XL for over a week now, we've found several things you wouldn't know without getting your hands on the phone.

How To: Set Up Face Unlock on the Google Pixel 4

The Pixel 4 and 4 XL are the first Android phones released in the US to support secure facial recognition. You no longer have to hate on your Apple's friends because you now have "Face ID" as well. So I assume you want to set it up right away — here's how.

How To: Your Pixel Has a Hidden QR Code Reader — Here's How to Use It

QR codes are supposed to make life easier, but having to install potentially shady third-party apps just to scan one is more trouble than it's worth. Thankfully, there's a QR code reader built into all Google Pixels, but you wouldn't know it unless you stumbled across the feature.

How To: Auto-Import New Contacts & Clean Up Existing Ones on Your Google Pixel

Your Pixel has a few hidden features you probably don't know about, like the ability to clean up your funky contacts list. Since I'm sure you haven't manually organized your contacts since the inception of Android, there are likely some incomplete and duplicate contacts. Thankfully, your phone can fix this automatically.

How To: Use the New Hands-Free Soli Gestures on the Google Pixel 4

One of the major additions in the Google Pixel 4 is the new Soli chip. It's the miniature radar sensor that powers Motion Sense, a new way to interact with your phone without touching it. There are a few new gestures you'll need to learn to take advantage of Motion Sense, so let me break them down for you.

How To: Sort Contacts by Last Name on Your Google Pixel

Most of us have had a cloud-connected address book for years now. The result of this is an ever-growing contact list that will continue to get harder to navigate and manage. With the increased size of our contact lists, it becomes more important to sort contacts in a way that works best for us.

How To: Export Your Pixel's Contacts to Use with Other Services

Your phone is loaded with contacts you've collected over the years. They're an asset, and you should use your library of connections outside the confines of your mobile device. Luckily, your Pixel uses a standardized medium to store contacts that can be used by the likes of LinkedIn, Outlook, Hubspot, iCloud, and more.

How To: Disable Google Doodle Animations in the Pixel's Search Bar

I want my Android device to run how I want, and I want it to be useful and positively contribute to my life. Recently, animations have started appearing on the Pixel's search bar when Google has a seasonal Doodle on their front page. It attracts my attention and distracts me from what I think is important. After several days of annoyance, I went on the hunt to turn these animations off.

How To: Enable 'Flip to Shhh' on Your Google Pixel & Quickly Turn on Do Not Disturb Mode

The Pixel's "Flip to Shhh" feature may not be groundbreaking, but it is useful. Third-party apps are copying it for other phones because it's so convenient. But it's not enabled by default and it's fairly hidden in the settings. So to take full advantage of your Pixel's feature set, you should learn how to use Flip to Shhh.

How To: Customize the Active Edge Squeeze Feature on Your Pixel

The idea of squeezing your phone might have sounded a bit out there when it was new, but it's now a hallmark feature on Pixel devices. As useful as it is for summoning the Google Assistant, however, it certainly would be nice to be able pick and choose what action is triggered by squeezing the phone. Well, now you can.

How To: Install TWRP Recovery on Your Pixel 3a

TWRP is a name many are familiar with since it allows your Android device to install any custom file of your choosing. You can create a NANDroid backup to keep your data safe or even use Magisk to achieve full root access. In fact, TWRP is often seen as the gateway to modding your system for creating a unique user experience.

How To: Root Your Pixel 3 on Android 10

When new Android versions come out, the modding community has to find new ways to root the OS. It's a fun cat and mouse game to follow, but it also means the process of rooting isn't exactly the same as it was the last time you did it. Android 10 changes how root works on a system level for some devices, but luckily, the developers are already on top of things.

How To: Install the ElementalX Custom Kernel on Your Pixel 3a

The Pixel 3a runs smoothly out of the box already, but installing a custom kernel can supercharge your experience even more. From fine-tuned CPU tweaks for boosting performance or battery life to adjusting the display colors for your screen how you want, ElementalX kernel can provide you with a ton of new features you didn't know you were missing.

How To: Root Your Pixel 3a with Magisk

The Pixel 3a came out of nowhere and flexed its muscles to show the industry that you can have a great phone without a hefty price tag. Since Pixel smartphones are first-party devices straight from Google, you can be sure you'll have root access one way or another. For right now the method used to get your Pixel 3a rooted will take a few steps, but they go by real quick.

How To: Unlock the Bootloader on Your Pixel 3a

The first thing you'll always have to do before getting your customization game on with most phones is to unlock the bootloader. Doing so opens the true potential of the device, allowing you to root, install TWRP, Magisk, custom ROMs, and other mods. No matter your wants or needs, there's no way around it — the bootloader must be unlocked to modify the system.

How To: Install Android Q Beta on Any Google Pixel Phone

During the Google I/O 2019 keynote, the latest Android Q Beta was released to the public for Pixel smartphones along with 15 other non-Pixel devices. It's the third Developer Preview for Android 10, but it's the first official public beta outside of Google's Pixel smartphones. A new public beta means good things are on the way as the future of Android continues to evolve.

How To: 20 Privacy & Security Settings You Need to Check on Your Google Pixel

Android's settings menu is actually pretty daunting. There are options for nearly everything, so in the sea of various menus and submenus, it's easy to overlook important privacy and security settings. On Google's Pixel phones in particular, there are 20 such settings that you should double check.

How To: View Call Screen Transcripts on Your Pixel

Call Screen is one of best features on Pixel phones. With one button, you can screen calls using Google Assistant and avoid pesky spam callers. However, after the call, there is seemingly no way to access the transcripts for future review. Fortunately, there is a way, but it is tucked away.

How To: Scan QR Codes in Your Pixel's Camera App

QR codes have become a staple in our everyday lives. Companies use them for everything from marketing promotions to movie tickets thanks to security they provided for these types of transactions. But for years, Android users had to download an app to scan these codes. Well, not anymore.

How To: 15 Tips & Tricks for New Pixel 3 Users

The Pixel 3 runs stock Android, so you might think that since you've used an Android device before, you should know your way around the new phone by default. But Google has actually added several great Pixel-exclusive software features to its flagships, and not all of them are easily discoverable.

How To: Lower Vibration Feedback on Your Pixel 2 to Make Notifications Quieter

Haptic feedback and vibration of our smartphones have come a long way in recent years. These features are much more premium now than they once were, but most users are still unable to adjust the intensity for notifications or phone calls. Most higher-end devices make less noise on surfaces than in the past, but adjusting these values can still come in handy even today.

How To: Calibrate the Colors of Your Pixel 2's Display with ElementalX

No matter how good a display is, the idea of perfect color calibration is subjective — some prefer warmer more saturated colors, while others prefer the calmer cooler side of the color spectrum. It is almost impossible to create a single color calibration that everyone can agree on out of the box. The display on the Pixel 2 XL was specifically calibrated with a more realistic color profile in mind.

How To: Make OTA Updates Easy by Rooting Your Pixel 3 with Magisk's Boot Image Patch

Rooting usually means sacrifice. With most root methods, you lose access to apps like Netflix and Android Pay when SafetyNet gets tripped. More importantly, you lose the ability to accept OTA updates, forcing you to manually flash new Android versions. But there's a way around all of this if you root the right way.

How To: Unlock the Bootloader on Your Pixel 3 or 3 XL — a Beginner's Guide

The main draw for Google's Pixel series is the software. It rocks a clean version of stock Android instead of a heavy OEM skin like TouchWiz, it gets frequent prompt OS updates, the camera software is downright amazing, and it has perhaps the most fluid UI of any phone. But an understated advantage of the software is how dead-simple it is to modify with root-level tweaks.

How To: Now Playing History Lets You See All the Songs Your Pixel 2 Has Recognized

The Pixel 2 has a number of new unique features. One of the most interesting is the Now Playing option to identify songs you hear on a daily basis. Now Playing displays the artist and title of songs playing in the background of your day and shows this information on the lock screen. While this functionality is incredibly useful, the song history is not saved anywhere on your phone.

How To: Disable the Always-on Ambient Display on Your Pixel 2 or Pixel 2 XL

Unlike traditional backlit LCD technology, OLED screens don't use any power to display black pixels. Many manufacturers have taken advantage of this by implementing an always-on display, which only lights up a few pixels here and there to show relevant info when your phone is locked. But this leads to extra battery drain, albeit small, and it increases the risk of screen burn-in.

How To: Enable 'Now Playing' on Your Google Pixel

The Pixel 2 debuted a really cool feature that identifies any songs playing nearby and automatically displays the track's name on your lock screen. It's honestly one of the most inventive smartphone features we've seen in a while, especially considering how Google did it — but strangely, it's not enabled by default.

How To: 7 No-Root Mods That'll Turn Your First-Gen Pixel into a Pixel 2

The Pixel 2 is a solid upgrade when compared to the 2016 model, but we've reached a point where the latest generation of a smartphone is never leaps and bounds better than the last. It's hard to justify dropping nearly a grand on a phone when it doesn't improve your situation much — especially when a few software tweaks will give you most of the upgrade for free.