{"id":301444,"date":"2025-12-06T02:09:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T02:09:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/301444\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T02:09:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T02:09:15","slug":"how-to-turn-off-your-google-pixels-annoying-background-blur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/301444\/","title":{"rendered":"How to turn off your Google Pixel’s annoying background blur"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Two<\/p>\n

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

If you recently updated your Pixel phone to Android 16 QPR2<\/a>, you\u2019ve probably noticed that there are a lot of new features for you to play with. With improved app icon customization, lock screen widgets<\/a>, and more, QPR2 is a darn good update.<\/p>\n

One of the more interesting changes is actually a reversal of something added in Android 16 QPR1 this past September. As part of the Material 3 Expressive interface added to Pixel phones with that update, one of the bigger UI tweaks was a blur effect in the app drawer and Quick Settings panel. I don\u2019t mind it, but it\u2019s something a lot of Pixel users have wanted Google to get rid of.<\/p>\n

Thanks to Google\u2019s latest Android update, you finally can. If you hate the background blur on your Pixel, there\u2019s a new secret setting that lets you fully disable it. Here\u2019s how.<\/p>\n

Are you going to disable your Pixel’s background blur effects?<\/p>\n

138 votes<\/p>\n

How to disable all background blur in Android 16 QPR2\n<\/p>\n

To get started, you first need to ensure your Pixel has the Android 16 QPR2 update<\/a>. Once you\u2019ve confirmed that it does, all you need to do next is open the Settings app and tap a few buttons. Here are the full steps to follow:<\/p>\n

Open the\u00a0Settings app.
\nScroll to the bottom of the page and tap\u00a0Accessibility.
\nTap\u00a0Color & motion.
\nTap Reduce blur effects.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s it! Once the toggle changes from an X to a check mark, you\u2019ll know that the setting is enabled. You don\u2019t have to restart your phone or wait for these changes to take effect \u2014 they happen immediately.<\/p>\n

\"BackgroundBlur effect on\"BackgroundBlur effect off\"BackgroundBlur effect on\"BackgroundBlur effect off<\/p>\n

You can see in the screenshots the difference between having the background blur effect on vs. off. When it\u2019s on, the background of the app drawer and Quick Settings has a glassy effect that lets some of your home screen wallpaper (or the app you\u2019re using) peek through a bit. There\u2019s also a blur transition effect whenever you open the app drawer or Quick Settings.<\/p>\n

However, once you disable this with the \u201cReduce blur effects\u201d setting, that all goes away. The background of your app drawer and Quick Settings becomes a solid, more saturated color, and the blur effect when opening either one is gone, too. You\u2019ll also see a solid color for the recent apps background.<\/p>\n

\"BackgroundBlur effect on\"BackgroundBlur effect off\"BackgroundBlur effect on\"BackgroundBlur effect off<\/p>\n

The best part is that it matches your phone\u2019s accent colors, so it\u2019s not just a random hue that clashes with everything else. For example, since my primary accent color is blue, that\u2019s the background color I see once the blur effects are off. If your accent color is red, yellow, or something else, that\u2019s what you\u2019ll see.<\/p>\n

Even as someone who doesn\u2019t mind the blur effects, I have to admit that disabling them does look really nice. I\u2019ll probably still keep them enabled, but I\u2019m thrilled we now have the option to use them or not.<\/p>\n

Which one are you choosing? Blur or no blur?<\/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 If you recently updated your Pixel phone to Android 16 QPR2, you\u2019ve probably…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301445,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[7175,2305,2306,86,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-301444","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-android-16","9":"tag-google-pixel","10":"tag-mobile","11":"tag-technology","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301444","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301444"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301444\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301445"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301444"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301444"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301444"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}