November 17, 2023 – Google rolled out a fresh update, Android 14 QPR2 Beta 1, for Pixel phones, tablets, and Fold models yesterday. Developers have recently discovered a noteworthy feature in this update – Pixel phone users can now disable the “At a Glance” widget on their home screens.
Digging into the details, Google introduced the “At a Glance” feature during the era of Pixel 7. This feature, reminiscent of Apple iOS’s “Live Activities” and widget “Smart Stack” functionalities, serves as a collective hub for displaying real-time notifications on the Pixel phone’s home screen. It swiftly provides information such as food delivery updates, ride-hailing distances, parcel tracking, countdowns for alarms, real-time weather alerts, and even boarding passes.
However, since the inception of this feature, Google received some negative feedback from users who found the “At a Glance” functionality to be unnecessarily intrusive.
In the Android 14 QPR2 Beta 1 version, Google addressed this concern by introducing a hidden switch. This switch allows users to completely disable the “At a Glance” feature, freeing up space for other application icons and widgets on their home screens.
