Google Pixel phones are popular due to their clean, smooth, and customizable software experience, but there’s room for improvement. While Material 3 Expressive makes these phones more customizable than ever, one of my biggest complaints is the at-a-glance widget. It’s a non-removable “feature” inside the Pixel launcher.
As many Pixel fans know, the at-a-glance widget on your homescreen shows the weather, clock, and date, and while you can adjust it a little bit, there’s absolutely no way to remove the clock without downloading a third-party launcher. It lives forever at the top left side of the screen. It was one of the few frustrations in my Pixel 10 Pro XL review, and part of why I missed my Samsung Galaxy.
A small Pixel launcher customization option
If you’re like me and wish you could hide the Google Pixel’s at-a-glance widget in favor of something else, we have good news. The folks over at Android Authority spotted an option in Google’s latest Canary build settings menu to do exactly that. Finally, the next big Android update might allow users to ditch the at-a-glance widget entirely.
More specifically, in the latest Android Canary build version B.17.playstore.pixel10.825046611, a new option is available in the at-a-glance settings menu that allows you to toggle it off and completely remove it from your Pixel home screen. I’m not sure why this wasn’t already an option, but it might actually happen soon.
Credit: Android Authority
It’s worth noting that this new toggle doesn’t work yet, even with the latest Android Canary build, but it’s a sign of things to come. These early versions of Android let users and developers test upcoming software changes, features, and tweaks, just like this one. If Google decides to move forward with this change, it’ll likely roll out with the next big Android update or in a Pixel feature drop. A similar toggle was spotted in 2023, but never became a reality.
Unfortunately, considering the toggle doesn’t work yet, we’re not entirely sure how it’ll function. Ideally, once you toggle it off, every aspect of the at-a-glance widget should disappear, including the day, date, and time.
This is a change we’ve been expecting for a very long time. For years, users all over the Google support forums and Reddit have voiced complaints about having no way to remove the widget. Now if only Google would let me reposition the Google Search widget on my Pixel, then I’d be happy. But hey, at least we can remove the Now Playing feature from the lock screen.
Source: Android Authority
