This hidden Pixel characteristic has saved me from a number of awkward moments

Google’s Pixel interface is deceptively easy. On the floor, it obfuscates a lot of the noise typical of different Android-based software skins, opting as a substitute for a pleasantly streamlined end-user expertise. Out of the field, there is a distinct lack of muddle, service duplication, and gimmickry, although Google has sprinkled in a number of thoughtful utilities all through the system that do handle to warrant their inclusion.

One such inclusion is a characteristic known as Guidelines. Discovered throughout the Pixel’s Settings utility, Guidelines serves as a really fundamental If / Then automation utility, permitting you to set parameters for routinely adjusting ringer quantity and Do Not Disturb mode primarily based on bodily location or Wi-Fi proximity.

For instance, I’ve personally arrange a rule that may routinely set my Pixel to ring when related to my dwelling Wi-Fi network. Likewise, I’ve instructed the telephone to set itself to vibrate mode every time I stroll via the doorways of my workspace.

By configuring Guidelines, I haven’t got to manually fumble round with the amount rocker on Pixel, nor do I’ve to fret about by chance receiving a telephone name throughout an essential work assembly or lacking an alert whereas lounging round at dwelling.

In fact, whereas the Pixel’s Guidelines characteristic has been a game-changer for offering me with peace of thoughts through the workday, it has loads of room for enchancment. When in comparison with related If/ Then instruments from Samsung and Apple, for instance, Google’s implementation is pretty naked bones. In reality, within the case of the iPhone, there’s an entire subreddit devoted to sharing ever-more novel rule configurations throughout the neighborhood — a feat merely not attainable with the default choices offered to us by Google.

Learn how to arrange Guidelines on a Google Pixel

Guidelines could be added immediately through the Pixel’s Settings app

To get began with the Guidelines characteristic in your Pixel telephone or pill, observe these steps:

1. Launch the Settings utility.
2. Navigate to System > Guidelines > Add rule.
3. A ‘Let app all the time run in background?‘ immediate will seem on-screen; Faucet or click on on the Permit button.
4. Comply with the on-screen steps to create a brand new rule.

Inside the Guidelines creation web page, you may discover an choice to have the system ship a notification every time a rule runs. If you would like to disable these notifications from showing, merely uncheck the Ship notification when rule takes impact toggle.

And there you might have it. Inside simply a few minutes, you may completely wave goodbye to manually adjusting the ringer in your Pixel as soon as and for all. Whereas the Guidelines characteristic is comparatively restricted in scope, it covers essentially the most handy If / Then use case of all of them, and it does so with magnificence.

This is hoping Google builds its Guidelines operate right into a full-blown app expertise within the close to future, to raised compete with the likes of Samsung’s Modes and Routines, Apple’s Shortcuts, and different opponents within the cellular area.