Google Pixel

5996 readers

76 users here now

The World's Google Pixel community!

This community is for lemmings to gather and discuss all things related to the Google Pixel phone and other related hardware. Feel free to ask questions, seek advice, and engage in discussions around the Pixel and its ecosystem.

We ask you to be polite when addressing others and respect Lemmy.world's rules.

NSFW content is not allowed and will immediately get you banned.

It also goes without saying that self-promotion of any nature and referral links are not allowed. When in doubt, contact the mod team first.

Also, please, no politics.

For more general Android discussions, see [email protected].

This community is not in any way affiliated with Google. If you are looking for customer support regarding your Pixel phone, look here instead: https://support.google.com/pixelphone/

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

What are the must-do changes that you've made to your Pixel? (lemmy.world)

submitted 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

28 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Physical changes are also welcome, so things like skins, cases, screen protections etc... are fine to discuss.

For me, in this order:

Wi-Fi calling: it was very surprising that this was not on by default, and enabling it helped a bit with the battery life on my Pixel 7a;
Try custom launchers: I was happy with the phone but the very first annoying thing is the damn Google search bar and how there was no way to just hide it like any other widget. So I ended up installing KISS Launcher (it's FOSS and still maintained);
Bite the bullet and install GrapheneOS: you get more security, sandboxed Play Services, a more fine-grained permissions system and you can still install the default Pixel apps from the Play Store while cutting off their internet access, and most importantly you get rid of the Google bar (also enabled Wi-Fi calling as previously done).

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (1 children)

You customize the OS and then install a custom OS?

I install LineageOS first thing because I can skip Gapps altogether, then I install DDG browser and enable App Tracking Protection (or Untracker might work better for you, use case dependent)

The I install Droidify and Obtanium for my apps, activate airplane mode and then toggle WiFi on.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Very curious, why LineageOS on a Pixel phone?

You customize the OS and then install a custom OS?

I admit it was definitely an awkward way of writing it 🙃, but those are simply the things I tried in chronological order as I was not really familiar with GrapheneOS in the beginning.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

I've been using it since it was Cyanogen on my Nexus S, and stuck with it. I've tried many others, but almost a decade ago. LOS just stuck, as I liked the privacy features, flexibility and stability