Summary
I managed to grab the Pixel 10a just before Google hiked the price by $100, and I’ve been messing with it non-stop ever since. And while doing that, I realized that there are plenty of useful features that aren’t enabled out of the box. Some of them are honestly too useful to be buried like this, which is exactly why I had to put together this list. Lockscreen widgets No need to unlock your phone I love using widgets, and starting with Android 16, there’s no need to unlock your phone to glance at important information. You can add widgets directly to the lock screen by heading to Settings > Wallpaper and style > More lock screen settings and turning on Widgets on lock screen. Once enabled, swipe left from your Pixel lock screen, and you’ll see a second screen full of widgets. And yes, you can customize it. I’ve got mine set up with a battery widget, so I know if my earbuds or watch need juice. The calendar widget tells me about what’s coming for the day and the Keep widget is useful for jotting down a note quickly. I’ve also added a screen time widget showing me apps I’ve spent most time using. There are plenty of widget options, but you’ll want to pick the ones that don’t show any sensitive information. Screen saver Your charging screen doesn’t have to be boring Charging your phone isn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but it’s something you have to do every day. Pixel’s screensaver feature makes that otherwise boring routine a little more fun. Head to Settings > Display and touch > Screen saver and enable the toggle. Then, pick the screensaver you want your Pixel to show while it’s charging. You can set it to show a clock, your photos, home controls, or the weather. This replaces the usual Always-On Display with whatever screensaver you pick. My favorite is the weather screensaver because it looks great when my Pixel is sitting on a wireless charger in landscape mode. It gives my phone a bit of a Nest Hub vibe on my nightstand. Notification history Never lose a notification again This is a feature you won’t need every day, but when you do, you’ll be glad you enabled it. I have more than 50 apps installed on my Pixel, so my notification panel is always busy. And sometimes, I’d swipe away notifications way too quickly and then regret doing it. Notification history is a simple feature that gives me a second chance to read those alerts. You can enable it by heading to Settings > Notifications > Notification history. After this, your Pixel will keep a 24-hour log of every notification you receive. You can even jump to this log quickly by tapping the history icon inside the notification panel. Clear Calling Sound crisp, every time Background noise during calls is something we’re all familiar with. It’s usually unavoidable when you’re calling someone from a public place like a cafe or airport. It’s annoying for you, and even more annoying for whoever’s on the other end. Clear Calling is a feature that automatically detects and removes such background noise during calls, so your voice always comes clean. This is something hardly anyone would say no to, yet this feature comes disabled by default. AlI the sound processing happens on your Pixel, so it’s not like you have to worry about privacy either. To enable it, head to Settings > Sound and vibration > Clear Calling. Smooth Display You paid for 120Hz, so use it By default, your Pixel caps its refresh rate at 60Hz, which feels like a waste when you’ve paid flagship money for the phone. Refresh rate is essentially how many times your screen refreshes every second, so the higher the better. Enabling 120Hz refresh rate can make navigation, scrolling, and gaming smooth. This does increase the battery usage, but it’s definitely worth it. The good thing is that your Pixel will only increase the refresh rate all the way to 120 when it’s really necessary, so you don’t have to worry about wasting battery for no reason. To turn on 120Hz refresh rate, head to Settings > Display and touch and turn on Smooth display. Adaptive vibration Your Pixel adjusts so you don’t have to I keep my phone in silent mode almost all the time because the vibration is usually enough to notify me of any calls and notifications. But those vibrations are pretty easy to miss when I’m out on a noisy street or a crowded room where there’s so much happening around me. Pixels have a feature called Adaptive Vibration that helps with this. This feature uses your phone’s microphone to figure out how loud or quiet your environment is, and then adjusts the vibration intensity accordingly. It’s a small but really clever feature that ensures I don’t miss important calls and notifications. You can enable it by heading to Settings > Sound and vibration > Adaptive vibration.