Summary
- The Pixel launcher already on your phone has the features you need to make yourself more productive.
- Options like app suggestions, the Now Playing lock screen feature, and widgets can get you in and out of your phone faster.
- In general, only use what you need and opt for fewer apps.
Personalizing your phone with your favorite apps is one of the defining features of smartphones and is available on basically any of the ones you can buy: Android, iOS, or otherwise. Beyond that, your ability to customize your phone can vary. Every phone maker will let you change your wallpaper, but not all of them will let you change the core fundamentals of how your phone works. A unique aspect of Android devices in particular is their ability to run launchers — the software that governs how your home screen functions and how you organize and load into apps — other than the ones they ship with.
Changing your launcher is one of the biggest changes you can adjust how your phone feels to use. There are dozens of great third-party Android launchers, but you might have everything you need with the one your phone shipped with. The Pixel launcher that comes on all of Google’s first-party phones and tablets isn’t flashy, but it has enough built-in features that it can help you feel more productive and less attached to your phone with the right setup. Here’s how I’m leveraging the Pixel launcher on my Pixel 9 to be a bit more productive at work, and guidance on how you should approach the Pixel phone in your pocket.
Related
Pixel 10 series leak offers first look at Google’s next flagships
Renders of the Pixel 10 series have leaked, and it looks very similar to the Pixel 9 series.
Let the launcher do the work for you
Make your phone self-sufficient
My general logic for personal gadgets and smartphones in particular is that you should adjust your home screen and lock screen so that they serve what you need to do on your phone and not the other way around. You should start there, because even on a phone with hundreds of apps on it, you still spend a lot of time looking at the app grid or notifications on your lock screen. If you can get away with only hanging out there and not diving into an app, you should.
The first place you’ll want to head to start setting up your Pixel is “Home settings,” which you can easily access by long-pressing on your home screen and tapping on “Home settings” in the contextual menu that pops up. I like to enable several settings in there, like At a Glance, Google’s widget that pulls and displays information from across its services whenever you need it most, be it your Calendar, your Gmail, or just the weather. It’s not flashy, but you can’t claim it doesn’t work.
I would also adjust the following options:
- Turn Swipe to access Google app on to access news right from your home screen.
- Turn Add app icons to home screen off so you can decide when and if you want to add an app to your home screen.
- Turn Notification dots on so you know if you even need to tap on an app in the first place.
Once you have those taken care of, there are a few other options I like to tweak in the sub-menus of Home settings. Relying on your phone’s best guess of what app you need sounds a little concerning, but both iOS and Android are pretty good at suggesting apps and when they’re wrong, the friction of finding what you actually want could be enough to get you off your phone when you don’t need to be on it.
With that in mind, inside Suggestions, turn on Suggestions in all apps list and Suggestions on Home screen to start seeing the apps your Pixel thinks you should open. As a rule of thumb, I leave one spot in the bottom row of apps on my home screen open for these suggestions. You’ll also want to head into Search settings and make sure that Swipe up to start search and Web search are both on. That way, you can easily look things up directly from your home screen.
As far as your lock screen and the general aesthetic of both your lock screen and home screen go, a lot of it can be left up to personal preference. In the Settings app, the main sections you’ll want to focus on are the Display & touch and Wallpaper & style sub-menus. As you might expect, you can make your phone fit your visual aesthetic under Wallpaper & style. Google has a nice selection of wallpapers, but I’ve admittedly had more fun playing with its tool for creating AI-generated ones (the more abstract and pattern-like the wallpaper can be, the better). In this same menu you should turn on Show notifications on lock screen and decide what you want your lock screen shortcuts to be. I use the flashlight and Do Not Disturb mode, but there are other options like Google Wallet or the Google Home app, too.
As far as your lock screen and the general aesthetic of both your lock screen and home screen go, a lot of it can be left up to personal preference.
Finally, head to Display & touch and then tap on Lock screen to enable the Now Playing feature so you can identify songs without having to ask Google Assistant or Gemini. You should also make sure Dynamic Clock is on and Always show time and info is disabled to save some extra battery life. Tweak any remaining settings based on your preference and concern for privacy. In general, though, the more you can do without unlocking your phone, the better.
Most apps only need to be glanced at
With those basics set, I like to think about workflow. I primarily use my Pixel 9 for work (both for calls and email, and as a Android device to test things on) while my iPhone 16 acts as my personal phone. The apps I want to be immediately available on a work phone are apps that involve work tasks, like Gmail, Slack, or Chrome. The rest of my phone I try to leave as widgets — things I’m tracking, but don’t need to regularly interact with.
Opt for widgets that are interactive so that you can avoid loading into a potentially distracting app.
I like to have a whole screen devoted to a giant Google Calendar widget I can check on a whim and another page with whatever task tracker my employer uses, in this case Asana, with any other glanceable information I think might be useful, like the battery life of my Pixel and Pixel Buds. It’s worth experimenting with what works best for you, but my strategy is to have your first screen only include what you need, leaving the rest of your app icons to be reached for in the app drawer, and only when you really need them. That way, you avoid the temptation of randomly checking apps and only keep the essentials (and what your Pixel thinks you might use) nearby.
The Pixel launcher gives you just enough
You probably need fewer features than you think
Google’s launcher is distinct from traditional Android, but it’s not exactly bursting with stylistic flourishes or wild features. It’s restrained. And if you’re honest with yourself, you probably won’t use much of the features of a more complicated Android launcher anyway.
As this guide hopefully shows, you really don’t need a lot to set up a phone that works for you rather than against you. The launcher preinstalled on your phone will probably do the trick with the right settings enabled. If you are still interested in exploring other launchers, Pocket-lint has a list of some of the best. If you’d instead like something even more focused on keeping your phone use simple, you might also consider learning more about Niagra Launcher.
