5 Essential Settings Tweaks for Your Google Pixel Phone
When setting up a Google Pixel phone, it's worth taking some time to tweak its settings and enable useful features that come disabled by default. Tech journalist Dibakar Ghosh shares five features he always changes on every new Pixel device.
The first feature is Screen Attention, which keeps the screen from turning off while you're looking at it, even if you're not actively touching it. This can be enabled in Settings > Display & Touch > Screen timeout. To pair this with a short timeout, Ghosh recommends setting it to 15-30 seconds.
Another feature he enables is auto-rotate with face detection, which prevents the screen from rotating when lying down or scrolling through social media feeds. This can be found in Settings > Display > Other display controls > Auto-rotate screen.
Ghosh also recommends turning off At a Glance, a widget that shows date, day, and weather information at the top of the home screen. It's now possible to remove this widget with Android 16.
On the power button, Ghosh prefers to use it for the traditional power menu instead of assigning it to Gemini, Google's AI assistant. This can be done in Settings > System > Gestures > Press and hold the power button.
Lastly, he enables Flip to Shhh, which automatically switches the phone to Do Not Disturb mode when flipped over or placed face down.