Paul’s Pixel 10 Diaries: Configuration Tips and Tricks ⭐

I love Pixel for all the obvious reasons. But I do have two related complaints, or perhaps observations. There are far too many options scattered all over the system, many of which are well hidden and not well understood. And many of these options are not configured optimally by default.

This is a creeping complexity that’s common to all personal computing platforms and is perhaps inevitable. If you want the platform to do more, and the platform makers and their customers seem to want that, then things have to evolve and grow. There’s just more in there now, and it’s difficult to keep track of it all.

I do similar work with Windows 11, of course, both for my own needs and for the books and how-to articles that come out of that. And it’s fair to say that I am much more familiar with what’s possible when it comes to customizing Windows than I am with any mobile platform. I just live in that world day in and day out.

And setting up three Pixel phones simultaneously, as I discussed in Paul’s Pixel 10 Diaries: Completing Setup, First AI and Photo Experiences introduced some new (to me) challenges that required a rethink. I set up the first of the phones, the Pixel 10 Pro XL, the way I usually do, manually. And then I set up the Pixel 10 and Pixel 10 Pro using a wizard-like process in setup that copied over apps and many settings from the first phone.

This was relatively expedient, though I still needed to manually sign in to and configure all the apps I use. But I came to regret doing this, too. When I shifted to the Pixel 10 just before I wrote my Pixel 10 Pro XL review, I had trouble getting the Google Fi eSIM to work properly in the new phone. This happened during the weekend before we flew to Mexico (and then to Hawaii) and I actually had to go back to the Pixel 10 Pro XL temporarily so I could reset the Pixel 10 and try again. And this time around, I skipped past the part of setup that wanted to set up my apps and settings.

That worked, at least. And my theory is that the copy process included the eSIM data, and that something about that just wasn’t working correctly. But with my phone, messages, and data finally working on the Pixel 10, I had to decide whether to copy over the apps and settings, which you can do after the fact. In the end, I opted to just set up the Pixel 10 manually. And that is what led me to this post, though I’ve since reviewed the Pixel 10 and have moved on to the Pixel 10 Pro. I kept missing some of the features I had previously configured on a different Pixel. And in some cases, just finding those features was difficult.

So here are some of the settings changes I made across these three phones, starting with the obvious top-level interfaces we all use every day. Some have been around for a while. Some have been improved. And some are new to 2025.

Apps list

I’m starting here because this was the setting that kicked off the idea for this article.

One thing I really miss from Samsung One UI is that it remembers where you were in what I still think of as the All apps list you get to when you swipe up from the Home screen. If you were two-thirds of the way down the list the last time you viewed this display and you view it again, it will start two-thirds of the way down the list the next time you do so too. Nice.

But Pixel doesn’t do this. Every time you open what’s really called the Apps list, you start right at the top. And while there’s no way to configure it to work like One UI, you can get partway there by enabling a well-hidden feature called Suggestions in all apps list. This is found by tapping and holding on an empty part of the Home screen, choosing Home settings, and then navigating to Suggestions.

When this is enabled, the Apps list will now display recently used and most used apps at the top, below the search box and above the normal, alphabetized list of all your apps.

Notification shade

I really like Material Expressive 3, and the Notification shade is one of the better renditions of this new look and feel that debuted with the Pixel 10 series phones, with its large, finger-friendly Brightness slider and Quick Settings tiles.

Also new to this release: The Quick Settings tiles are highly customizable now. When you fully expand the Notification shade, you’ll see a familiar “Edit tiles” (pencil) icon at the bottom of the Quick Settings area. Tapping that opens a full screen Edit tiles interface that offers a stunning range of tiles.

In addition to choosing which tiles appear in Quick Settings, you can arrange their locations, which isn’t new. But given how the Notification shade can be pulled down in a half-step before you expand it fully, you can place the tiles you use most frequently right at the top so they’re easily accessible.

What is new here is the ability to resize Quick Settings tiles, too. Now, in addition to the normal square tile size, you can arbitrarily resize any tile to double or triple its normal width (depending on your display scaling) too. The net result is a Notifications shade display that’s both optimized and highly customized for you.

Home screen

I have trouble finding a home screen design I like, so I futz with this one all the time. The Pixel 10 is still on the Android 16/QPR1 release, so it doesn’t yet have the fun new icon shapes customization option coming in QPR2. But I put the Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL on the QPR2 beta so I could experience some new features. Including a nice one tied to Home screen customization.

But either way, the Pixel 10 series phones have many options throughout Wallpaper & style, Widgets, and Home settings (all of which you access by long-pressing on a blank area of the Home screen) to consider over and above the obvious and well-understood options for positioning icons on the Home screen and choosing a wallpaper.

I spend a lot of time in Wallpaper & style trying to find a look I like. (The choices you see here change as you switch between the Lock screen and Home screen views, but I look at the former in a later section below.)

• More wallpapers. Google has provided AI wallpaper, Emoji Workshop, and stock wallpaper collections for a while now. But new to this year is a Live effects feature that lets you choose a photo and then place it inside a shape, customize it with weather effects, or add a 3D motion for a cinematic look.
• Colors. The Pixel lets you match the color of your Home screen icons and other UI elements to the wallpaper you’re using. Plus it supports Dark and Light modes and will transition between the two based on how you configure that feature.
• Icons. Google introduced a Themed Icons feature (for the Home screen only) a few years back, but it was opt-in, so not all icons adapted. That changes in QDPR1, which now automatically applies this effect to icons that app developers didn’t customize. And there is a new Icon Shapes feature so you can choose the shape of Home screen icons, too, for an even more customized look.
• Layout. There’s a new XL layout for Home screen icons this year, but this marks the first time I’ve tried Small (albeit on the Pixel 10 Pro XL only).

Android has long supported Home screen Widgets, but they were never particularly interesting until Apple finally added this feature to iOS. Now, there are some decent choices, including some with fun Material Design and Material Expressive 3 looks and feels from Google. This is one area that I still struggle with, though. I keep a quirky-looking weather widget on my Home screen, but that’s about it despite lots of experimentation.

There are several useful options in Home settings, though the ability to turn off the At a Glance interface is curiously not among them. I leave most of these options on their defaults. But I do go back and forth on Add app icons to home screen, which puts shortcuts for newly installed apps on the Home screen when enabled.

Lock screen

You customize the Lock screen by displaying it, long-pressing a blank area, and choosing “Customize lock screen.” Or you can do this from the Home screen by long-pressing a blank area, choosing “Wallpaper & style,” and then swiping over to the Lock screen view (and away from Home screen).

Here, you will find:

• Clock. You can now customize the Clock width, and there are new Clock options, including a Large size that I prefer. It displays normally when the Lock screen is in always-on mode, but then gets bigger when the Lock screen is visible/active.
• Shortcuts. Here, you can customize which two buttons appear in the bottom corners of the Lock screen. But I leave them on their defaults, Flashlight and Camera).
• Notifications on the lock screen. Now with a choice between Compact View and Full List.
• More lock screen settings. This interface has a lot to consider. Two are new: Widgets on the lock screen (beta) (see below) and Dynamic clock (which changes the size of the clock based on how many notifications and other content is there), both of which I enable. And while these aren’t new, I make sure Tap to check phone and Lift to check phone are both On.

Regarding that Widgets on the lock screen (beta) option, there’s no obvious way to add any widgets to the Lock screen, let alone see them. But when this is enabled you can enter a new Hub mode by swiping to the left from the Lock screen: This is where you will see widgets and can customize which appear. To do that, press and hold on a blank area to display an “+ Add widget” button. You’ll see a familiar interface with Featured and Browse tabs, as with Widgets on the Home screen.

And speaking of Hub mode, the Pixel 10 series phones support a Screen saver feature that lets you choose various displays that will appear when they are plugged into power and not being used, like a mini smart display. There’s a new and highly customizable clock, a Google Photos slideshow, Home controls, a Pilot Bold Clock, Pixel Weather, and more. And if you are going to use this on the nightstand, be sure to look at the Low light mode option.

There is so much more

This is already longer than I had hoped it would be and I’ve only touched on some user interface customization. So perhaps there will be a Part 2 at some point. But before moving on, I will leave you with one of my favorite Pixel features, Flip to Shhh, which is well hidden because of its non-obvious name and where you configure it. You enable this in Settings > System > Gestures so that you can silence notifications by putting the phone screen-down on the table or whatever surface. Really nice.