{"id":321456,"date":"2026-03-04T14:15:22","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T14:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/321456\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T14:15:22","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T14:15:22","slug":"android-16-qpr3-is-a-massive-upgrade-here-are-7-features-you-need-to-try-asap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/321456\/","title":{"rendered":"Android 16 QPR3 is a massive upgrade. Here are 7 features you need to try ASAP"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Android<\/p>\n

Joe Maring \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n

How would you grade Google’s Android 16 QPR3 update?<\/p>\n

174 votes<\/p>\n

Give At a Glance more power, or remove it completely<\/p>\n

There is a slew of changes coming to the Pixel Launcher and its widgets with this update, most of them center around my beloved At a Glance widget<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For you heretics out there, you can finally completely remove At a Glance from your home screen. I don\u2019t know why you would do that to the most useful widget on Android, but the option is there. Tap and hold on the At a Glance widget, choose Settings, then toggle off\u00a0Show on home screen. Poof, gone. If you want to get it back, tap and hold anywhere on your home screen, choose\u00a0Home settings, then tap the gear icon next to\u00a0At a Glance and turn it back on.<\/p>\n

\"screenshotTap Settings\"screenshotTurn off “Show on home screen”\"screenshotAt a Glance is gone<\/p>\n

Another change lets you add a grey background to the widget. The option is in the same menu, under\u00a0High contrast background. This can be very useful on lighter wallpapers where the widget\u2019s white font is practically illegible.<\/p>\n

\"screenshotAt a Glance, low contrast\"screenshotTurn on “High contrast background”\"screenshotAt a Glance, high contrast<\/p>\n

And finally, At a Glance is finally adding some extra data points with sports scores, end-of-day stock details, and commute updates<\/a>. All categories should be enabled by default, but if you want to make sure, tap and hold once again on At a Glance, choose\u00a0Settings, and toggle on\u00a0Sports,\u00a0Finance, and\u00a0Commute.<\/p>\n

\"screenshotAt a Glance Sports, Finance, and Commute\"screenshotAt a Glance on home screen\"screenshotAt A Glance sports scores on the lock screen\"AtAt A Glance sports scores on the always-on display<\/p>\n

These might take a few days before they start showing up, but once they do, they\u2019ll be extremely helpful. I\u2019ve been getting sports scores for FC Barcelona and Real Madrid\u2019s games for the past few days, and I don\u2019t imagine I\u2019ll ever go back to using any other widget, floating score, or notification. I love how contextual these scores are \u2014 they pop up one hour before the game and stay for a bit after it\u2019s over, and they appear on the lock screen and always-on display, too.<\/p>\n

Try Google\u2019s funky new AI-generated custom app icons<\/p>\n

Android 16 QPR2 made it possible to force-theme all of your apps\u2019 home screen icons<\/a>, bypassing any lazy-developer unthemed icons. With QPR3, Google is taking this to the next level by letting you generate completely new icon themes using AI and a bunch of preset commands.<\/p>\n

\"screenshotGo to Wallpaper & styles\"screenshotChoose Icons\"screenshotTap the new Create button\"screenshotThis is the new Custom Icons page<\/p>\n

To start the process, go to tap and hold somewhere on your home screen and choose\u00a0Wallpaper & style > Icons, and look for the new Create icon. It opens up a Custom icons page where you can choose from five different styles: Scribbles, Cookies, Easel, Treasure, and Stardust.<\/p>\n

Cookies and Stardust are preset, but the other three let you change the iconset\u2019s theme or color, matching your wallpaper or creating contrast. Once you pick one, tap Create icons, wait a bit, then\u00a0Download. Google\u2019s algorithms will run in the background, find all of your home screen apps, and make a new icon for them. Once the icon pack is done, you\u2019ll get a notification, and it\u2019ll appear under\u00a0Your styles.<\/p>\n

\"screenshot\"screenshotDenim custom icons\"screenshotMore denim custom icons\"screenshotCookies custom icons<\/p>\n

You can download and apply it. The best part is that this applies to any icon \u2014 even your most local, unknown apps and services \u2014 as well as app shortcut icons, too. Plus, any app you later add to your home screen will be immediately themed, too. I love this, and I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll spend a few hours testing different styles to find the one that works for my current wallpaper.<\/p>\n

Customize your Google Search bar<\/p>\n

On the opposite side of At a Glance, there\u2019s the Google Search widget at the bottom of the home screen, and this one is getting some new features too. It\u2019s now as customizable as the standalone Google widget, meaning you can change its theme, adjust its transparency, and pick the shortcuts that show up on the right side or hide them completely.<\/p>\n

\"screenshotGoogle Search widget settings\"screenshotGoogle Search widget theme and transparency\"screenshotGoogle Search widget color and saturation\"screenshotGoogle Search widget additional shortcut<\/p>\n

To do this, tap and hold on the widget and choose\u00a0Widget settings. From here, you can choose between the automatic system theme (which follows the Material color you chose) or assign a permanent light, dark, or custom theme with any color you want. Go crazy if you want. Adjust the transparency of the widget if you want, and tap Add shortcut to choose the quick shortcuts you want to show up there. My favorites are\u00a0Translate and\u00a0Sports, but\u00a0Song Search\u00a0is also quite handy.<\/p>\n

\"screenshotGoogle Search widget searchsettings\"screenshotGoogle Search widget options\"screenshotGoogle Search widget change engine<\/p>\n

In addition, you can also change the default search engine used by the widget if you don\u2019t want to go through Google. Tap and hold on the widget, choose\u00a0Search settings, and then\u00a0Search engine. I only see Google and DuckDuckGo as options for now, so I hope Google adds more providers later, or allows us to set our own.<\/p>\n

Try the new display Comfort Filters<\/p>\n

Pixels already offer a Night Light mode to make their display easy on the eyes at night, but the option was always hidden under a Quick Settings toggle that very few people knew about. Now, there\u2019s an entire menu dedicated to night-time viewing.<\/p>\n

Go to\u00a0Settings > Display & touch\u00a0> Comfort filters\u00a0to find the two new adjustable filters.\u00a0Comfort View tones down blue light and doesn\u2019t seem to affect other colors (pink, yellow, red, etc.). Its intensity can be manually adjusted, or you can let your phone automatically adjust based on your environment.<\/p>\n

\"screenshotNew display Comfort filterss\"screenshotComfort View\"screenshotNight Light\"screenshotNight Light Schedule<\/p>\n

Night Light affects the entire display. It dims it a bit and switches it to warmer tones throughout while reducing some of the blue light\u2019s effect. Here again, you can control the intensity as well as assign a specific schedule from sunset to sunrise or between specific hours.<\/p>\n

Control the brightness of your flashlight<\/p>\n

For years now, we\u2019ve known that Android can modulate the brightness of the LED flashlight on many phones, but you had to get a third-party app or Google\u2019s Magnifier to do it<\/a> on Pixels. With Android 16 QPR3, that\u2019s no longer the case. The function is built straight in, but you need to know how to trigger it.<\/p>\n

\"screenshotTap and hold on the Flashlight toggle\"screenshotControl the flashlight brightness<\/p>\n

Instead of simply tapping to turn on the flashlight, you have to tap and hold on the Quick Settings toggle.\u00a0A\u00a0Flashlight Strength pop-up will appear, and you can slide your hand up\/down to dim or brighten it. Tap\u00a0Done or anywhere outside the pop-up to go back and keep the flashlight on, or tap\u00a0Turn off to, well, turn it off.<\/p>\n

Enable the new Satellite hub<\/p>\n

Recent Pixel phones offer Satellite connectivity in bad-network areas, allowing you to reach emergency services or send messages under duress. The option enables itself automatically when your phone doesn\u2019t detect any network, but if you want to control it yourself, you\u2019ll have to go through several different menus to find every satellite-related option. Now, there\u2019s a central hub for all Satellite things, except it\u2019s a bit hidden.<\/p>\n

To show the hub, you need to have Developer options enabled<\/a> on your Pixel (go to\u00a0Settings > About phone\u00a0and tap on the Build Number several times). When they\u2019re enabled, go to\u00a0Settings > System > Developer options and look for\u00a0Quick settings developer tiles. Turn on the\u00a0Satellite tile.<\/p>\n

\"screenshotGo to Quick settings developer tiles\"screenshotEnable the Satellite tile\"screenshotTap on the new Satellite tile\"screenshotThis is the new Satellite connectivity hub<\/p>\n

Now, if you drop down your notifications panel, you\u2019ll see that a new Satellite tile has been added at the top; feel free to move it around. Tapping it opens the new\u00a0Satellite connectivity page, which shows all the apps that use the feature (Emergency SOS calls, messages, Find Hub, and Maps) as well as a Settings button. The entire page is still a bit buggy; you may need a few taps to open it, and the settings shortcut isn\u2019t working for me now. I hope Google finishes work on it and rolls it out widely and publicly soon, without having to go through Developer options to trigger it.<\/p>\n

Invert your 3-button navigation (if you must)<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been using Pixels for eight years, so for me, the correct order has always been the Back button on the right and the Recents button on the left. I\u2019ve long ago switched to gesture navigation, but when I switched my parents to Pixels<\/a>, I set them up with button navigation because it\u2019s more accessible and reliable for them. They were coming from old OnePlus and Samsung phones, though, which had Back and Recents flipped around, so they had to get used to the new button positions for a few days.<\/p>\n

\"screenshot3-button Navigation options \"screenshotNavigation buttons, the right order\"screenshotNavigation buttons, the wrong order \ud83d\ude06<\/p>\n

If you or your family members prefer the inverted placement, you can now do that on your Pixel, too. Go to\u00a0Settings > Display & touch > Navigation mode and tap the settings cog next to\u00a03-button navigation. You\u2019ll be able to choose between the two Back\/Recents positions depending on your preference.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t want to miss the best from Android Authority?<\/p>\n

\"google\"google<\/a><\/p>\n

Thank you for being part of our community. Read our\u00a0Comment Policy<\/a> before posting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Joe Maring \/ Android Authority How would you grade Google’s Android 16 QPR3 update? 174 votes Give At…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321457,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[2090,6295,159692,133,5133,85,46,321,125],"class_list":{"0":"post-321456","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-android","9":"tag-android-16","10":"tag-android-customization","11":"tag-google","12":"tag-google-pixel","13":"tag-il","14":"tag-israel","15":"tag-mobile","16":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}