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Google Pixel phones are packed with intelligent and helpful features. While Google ensures many of these are front and center by promoting them when you first set up the phone or by periodically reminding you about them when you perform certain tasks, a surprising number of equally brilliant features fly under the radar. These hidden gems can significantly improve your daily experience with your phone. It’s a shame that a ton of users simply don’t know about them.
With that in mind, this is a list of some of my favorite Pixel-exclusive features that, for whatever reason, don’t seem to get the attention they deserve. You might be a power user who knows about all of these, but it’s likely there will be at least a few readers who will walk away learning something new about the small computer in their pocket.
Now Playing has a semi-hidden history
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
Most Pixel owners are familiar with Now Playing, considering it is one of the features Pixel UI asks you about when you first set up a Pixel. Now Playing identifies songs playing in your environment without you needing to do a thing to trigger it — the information appears on your lock screen automatically. Think of it as an always-on Shazam. What Google doesn’t make immediately obvious, however, is that your phone keeps a running list of every song it ever identifies.
Now Playing lets you see the music playing around you, but there’s a running list of all the songs your phone has ever logged, too.
This history can be incredibly handy, but accessing it is a bit convoluted. You can tap the music note on your lock screen when a song is actively playing, but that’s not much help when you’re trying to recall a track from last night’s party while sitting on your couch slightly hungover.
To find your full song history, you need to navigate to Settings > Display & touch > Lock screen > Now Playing, and then tap on Now Playing History. Thankfully, you only need to do this once. From the history screen, tap the three-dot menu icon in the top right and select Add to Home Screen. This creates a shortcut icon on your home screen, giving you instant access to your musical memories whenever you want.
Quick Tap: A shortcut on the back of your phone
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
While Now Playing is an opt-in feature made apparent the first day you use your Pixel, Quick Tap is one you need to discover for yourself. This feature triggers a specific action instantly whenever you double-tap the back of your phone.
To enable it, go to Settings > System > Gestures > Quick Tap to start actions. Here, you can assign the double-tap gesture to a variety of tasks. You can use it to take a screenshot, access Gemini, play or pause media, or even open a specific app. I personally have it set to toggle the flashlight, as it’s incredibly convenient and works even when the phone is locked.
I prefer to use Quick Tap to launch the flashlight, but there are a bunch of other things you can have it do.
Be aware that some actions, like launching an app, will require you to unlock your phone first, which can defeat the “quick” aspect of the feature. Also, if you find yourself accidentally triggering the gesture fairly often, you can enable the Require stronger taps option on the Quick Tap settings page, which should help reduce that issue.
Automate your settings with Rules
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
If you want your phone to change settings automatically based on your context, Pixels have a built-in system called Rules. While it isn’t as feature-rich as some competitor offerings, like Samsung’s Routines, it’s still quite useful once configured.
On your Pixel, you can find it under Settings > System > Rules. You’ll need to enable background services for it to work, so be sure to hit the Next button the first time you visit this page.
Pixel’s Rules allow you to automatically switch audio states depending on where you are.
Once you’ve given it all the necessary permissions, you can create rules that trigger changes to your phone’s audio state based on your geographical location or a specific Wi-Fi network. For instance, you can set your phone to automatically switch to Do Not Disturb when you’re at the movie theater and then revert to your normal ringer profile when you connect to your home Wi-Fi. It’s a simple but effective way to automate your daily routines.
Again, I really wish Google made this more powerful like Samsung has with Routines, but it’s a gem of a feature taken for what it is.
Get better selfies with gestures and illumination
Ryan Haines / Android Authority
The Pixel camera has a few tricks up its sleeve that go well beyond just taking good photos. Did you know you can switch between the rear and front-facing cameras with a simple shake? When the camera app is open, two quick twists of your wrist will flip to the selfie camera, and two more will flip it back. If this isn’t working, check that it’s enabled under Settings > System > Gestures > Flip camera for selfie. There’s a helpful GIF on that page that can help you master the wrist-flicking gesture.
Selfie fiends will love the wrist-flicking gesture and the cheat code for getting better lighting.
This gesture combines powerfully with another shortcut that most people already know about: double-tapping the power button to launch the camera. With these two features combined, you can go from your phone being in your pocket to being ready for a selfie in seconds (take phone out of pocket, double tap power button, flick wrists). Once you’ve framed your shot, you can even use the volume keys to capture the photo, meaning you can go from your phone being in your pocket to snapping a selfie all with using only one hand and without ever needing to touch your display. Neat!
I also have a bonus selfie tip. Another underappreciated tool is Selfie Illumination, which you can find under the More light setting in the camera app. The setting for this is fairly apparent (open the camera app, swap to selfie mode, and tap the gear icon on the left), but Google does a poor job explaining what it is. Contrary to what some might think, it isn’t just an AI-powered brightening filter. When enabled, your phone’s screen will turn bright white for a moment right before capturing a selfie, acting as a makeshift front-facing flash to illuminate your face. This can dramatically improve the lighting of your self-portraits in dim environments. You’ll only need to enable this in the camera’s selfie mode settings once for it to stay active permanently whenever you take a selfie. However, it will reset when you restart your phone.
Face-aware Auto-Rotate
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
Everyone has experienced the annoyance of lying in bed and having your phone’s screen rotate to landscape when you don’t want it to. Pixels have a clever solution to this problem. If you long-press the Auto-Rotate tile in your Quick Settings, you’ll find an option to enable face detection. With this active, your phone will use the front-facing camera to see the orientation of your face. If it detects that you’re lying down, it will keep the screen in portrait mode even if the phone itself is horizontal.
Hate when your head hits a pillow and your phone goes into landscape mode? This is for you.
This is a small touch that removes a common frustration. It also prevents you from needing to even have the Auto-Rotate Quick Tile active since it should be smart enough to know when you really want the phone to be in landscape or portrait mode. That makes room for a different tile to be there, which is nice.
Select text and images right from your recent apps
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority
The Recents screen (or Overview screen, Google can’t make up its mind what to call this area of Android) is accessible by swiping up from the bottom of your display and holding. On Pixels, this area has a powerful tool. At the bottom of the screen, you’ll see a Select button. Tapping this allows you to highlight and copy text from any of the apps currently displayed in the carousel, without needing to open them individually. You can also share the selected text or start a Google search directly from the tiny menu that pops up whenever any text is selected.
Stop taking screenshots of apps and then editing the screenshot before sharing. Use the Select tool!
This feature is even more useful for images. Let’s say you want to share an image on your phone but don’t want to share your whole screen. Instead of taking a screenshot, cropping it, and then sharing, you can simply tap on an image directly from the Recents screen. This allows you to share or save just that specific image, or use Google Lens to search with it. It’s a much faster and more efficient way of doing things.
Don’t ignore the Pixel Tips app!
Robert Triggs / Android Authority
It’s easy to dismiss the Pixel Tips app as just another piece of pre-installed software, the digital equivalent of a car’s user manual. But you really should open it and explore. The app is a treasure trove of information, detailing many of the cool things your phone can do that you might not be aware of.
If I had a nickel for every Pixel user who’s never touched the Pixel Tips app, I wouldn’t need to work anymore.
The Pixel Tips app is also the best place to find out what new features have arrived with the latest quarterly Pixel Drop. Google makes headlines by announcing a batch of new features for Pixels every quarter, but the rollout can be staggered, and some features are exclusive to certain Pixel models. The Tips app cuts through the confusion by showing you exactly which new features are active and available on your specific device. I now make it a point to check the app every few months to see what’s new.
Those are my favorite underappreciated Pixel features. Did I miss any? What’s your favorite? Let me know in the comments below.
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