What it’s essential know
- Android 17 beta 1 features a few delicate UI adjustments.
- The house display search bar now has a slimmer design and is now customizable, letting customers swap AI Mode for instruments like Gemini Dwell or Translate.
- Customers can lastly take away the At a Look widget from the Pixel house display.
- Minor UI tweaks embrace a refreshed brightness icon in Fast Settings and clearer quantity panel settings entry.
Whereas Android 17 could not look drastically completely different from Android 16 at first look, Google has quietly launched two small UI tweaks to the Pixel Launcher.
After some preliminary confusion, Google lastly rolled out Android 17 beta 1 February 13, 2026. The replace focuses totally on bigger adjustments, corresponding to bettering the large-screen expertise and boosting efficiency. Nevertheless, it additionally features a few delicate UI adjustments inside the Pixel Launcher.
Essentially the most noticeable change facilities across the house display search bar. On Android 16, the search bar featured thick coloured borders. With Android 17, Google seems to have reverted to a slimmer design that intently resembles the older model many customers had been aware of.
One small however significant replace is that the shortcut now sits contained in the search bar moderately than exterior it. Extra importantly, the shortcut is now customizable. Whereas it defaults to an AI Mode shortcut, you may swap it for instruments like Gemini Dwell, Translate, Music Search, Climate, Dictionary, and extra.
Tapping a shortcut updates the search bar immediately, and deciding on it launches the chosen characteristic. In the meanwhile, there does not seem like an choice to interchange the voice search or Google Lens shortcuts.
As well as, Android 17 beta 1 introduces the power to take away the At a Look widget from the house display. Though Google beforehand examined this with choose customers within the Android 16 QPR3 betas, it now appears broadly obtainable in Android 17 beta 1. You’ll be able to take away it by long-pressing the widget after which eradicating the widget from Pixel Launcher settings.
There are just a few different minor UI tweaks as properly. The amount panel now features a settings icon on the backside for clearer entry to quantity controls, and the brightness icon in Fast Settings seems to have been refreshed. As at all times, these adjustments may change or disappear in future beta builds.
Android Central’s Take
The power to customise the search bar is a genuinely welcome addition. Whereas I take pleasure in utilizing AI Mode, I additionally continuously use Google for sports activities updates and Music Search, so with the ability to swap the shortcut makes the expertise extra versatile. I simply hope Google ultimately lets us customise extra of the shortcuts sooner or later.
