While my phone has changed over the years, there’s been a constant whenever I use Android: I always have a persistent Google search widget on my home screen, putting Google search tools front and center when I use my phone.
But because most people have changed their habits to rely less on Google search and more on AI, Google search is still the starting point for most people, especially as AI results have been natively integrated into Google search and as voice becomes a more important way to start a search (though for the best voice experience, check out Google AI Edge Eloquent).
That Google Search bar you see every day has more settings than you might think. You can change the widget’s color and transparency, adjust its appearance on your home screen, and even add a customizable shortcut button for quick access to additional search tools. Here’s where to find those options.
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This 3-widget setup is the only Android home screen you need
Simplify your home screen with just the basics for a clean, functional look.
Match your home screen style
Credit: Brandon Miniman / MakeUseOf
If you tap and hold the Google Search widget and tap -> Widget Settings, you’ll see multiple customization options, as well as a preview on top.
From here, you can set the theme to be System, Light, Dark (although I advise against system-wide dark modes), or Custom. The system will follow your phone’s light/dark settings (some people have dark mode set to turn on at night automatically), while light/dark obviously forces one of those two, or you can pick Custom, where you can dial in the exact color and saturation.
The way I like to use Custom is to pick a matching color from my wallpaper and use the Google Search Widget as an accent color. Regardless of which theme you pick, you can dial in the widget’s transparency, making it fully opaque and nearly solid to almost fully transparent (I say “almost” because even at 100% transparency, the widget is still tinted its color).
Pick your custom shortcut
You get twelve options
Credit: Brandon Miniman / MakeUseOf
While the Google Search Widget has two permanent buttons on the right, you cannot change (Voice Search and Google Lens), Google gives you the ability to pick a third shortcut, which appears to the left of the Voice Search icon, and you have twelve choices. While the choices are self-explanatory (like Weather and Song Search), some of them are pretty unique. Also, just a quick reminder: your Android widgets hide buttons you’ve never tapped when you just resize them.
Some of the more unique Google Search Widget shortcuts include Homework, which launches a special edition of Google Lens to help solve math equations or explain scientific or historical problems. Great for students! Then there is Translate, which again launches a special version of Google Lens that uses your phone’s camera to provide real-time translations, perhaps for menus, street signs, or other text you might want to convert. Excellent for travelers. Another great one to consider is Saved, which brings up your “collections” where you can find images, pages, and locations you’ve bookmarked across various Google services. Lastly, None is a good choice if you do not want to use this shortcut space and just keep the two default buttons in your search widget. Making this choice offers a cleaner, less-cluttered look.
But only if you don’t have a Pixel
Brandon Miniman / MakeUseOf
By default, the Google search widget takes up the entire width of your home screen, but it doesn’t have to. As long as you’re not using a Pixel (which doesn’t let you resize the Google search widget for some reason, unless you use a third-party launcher), you can tap and hold to resize the widget. I love this because you can basically set it up as a full-size search box, or shrink it down to the size of a pill without losing any functionality, since the widget opens a Google search anyway, which is a full-screen experience.
Don’t just accept the Android defaults — customize Google Search Widget
Just because your phone came with the default Google Search widget doesn’t mean that you have to stick to the default layout. Spend time customizing how it looks by tweaking the widget’s color and transparency, adjusting its size (unless you have a Pixel, in which case you can’t), and choosing which third shortcut you want displayed.
For me, since I usually have an AI widget on my home screen anyway, I tend to make my Google search widget a small, transparent pill with as few buttons as possible. That way, I still have a clean look on my home screen without too many redundant buttons.
SoC
Google Tensor G4
Display
6.3-inch Actua pOLED display, 1080 x 2424 resolution, 60-120Hz, 3000 nits peak brightness
The Google Pixel 10a is a budget-oriented smartphone with a flat back and long battery life. It’s powered by the same Tensor G4 chip as its predecessor, and many key specs are identical to the Pixel 9a. However, you do get a brighter screen, better modem, new software features, and Android 16 with seven years of software support.
