Survey says over 50% of Pixel users love this Google feature

At a Glance is one of the most awesome features of a Pixel phone, and I’m not alone in thinking this. When I told you a couple of weeks ago that I was falling in love with the widget again, thanks to its recent updates, many of you replied and said that you liked it, too. The poll results were also very positive about At a Glance, making me wonder: Is it just a minority of users who are always vocal about wanting it gone from their home screen? Are they wrong?

1 in 2 Pixel users love At a Glance

Every time an Android Authority writer mentions the Pixel Launcher in a post, the comments are flooded with people complaining about how they want to remove At a Glance and the Google Search widget, and how they’ve switched launchers to avoid these eyesores. The same happens on Reddit and other enthusiast forums and sites. I never really understood the hate, but to each their own, I guess.

I was still curious, though: Is this a vocal, annoyed minority, or is there really that much dislike for At a Glance? Is Google stubbornly keeping a mandatory widget on everyone’s home screen despite it being hated by so many people? So I asked you, our Android Authority readers, to tell us what you think of At a Glance. After nearly 2,500 votes, the numbers speak for themselves.

Over 53% said that they love At A Glance, while only 15% said they don’t like it. Of those, only 5% have gone through the trouble of switching launchers to avoid the widget. The rest are in the middle, with 22% saying they find At a Glance useful in certain situations and 9% voting that they could take it or leave it.

I didn’t expect these numbers, but, in retrospect, they make so much sense. Only a small fraction is annoyed by At a Glance, but most people are silent fans of the feature. And they’re right for loving it: It’s easily one of the best Pixel features and, in my opinion, the best Android widget out there.

There’s nothing like At a Glance out there for Android. If you use your calendar, follow sports, set timers, listen to music on earbuds, live anywhere with random weather changes, or simply just turn on your phone’s flashlight, then At a Glance instantly becomes crucial to your phone. I can’t tell you how many times I inadvertently turned on my phone’s flashlight and only noticed it because At a Glance warned me. Or how much I love the fact that I can see my Pixel Buds’ battery status without dedicating a huge widget on my home screen that stays there, even when my buds aren’t connected.

My favorite new feature is sports scores and warnings about upcoming games. For example, I had assumed that Barcelona would be playing Newcastle at 9:00 PM, but At a Glance just told me this is the early UCL game of the day and it’s starting at 6:45 PM. I’d have missed the entire game if I didn’t see this. At a Glance is also indispensable if you travel. It has warned me a few times about last-minute gate changes, notified me of the baggage carousel before I reached it, and kept me on top of check-in and boarding times. It’s so helpful that I could ditch all other widgets, but not At a Glance.

There’s even more that the widget can do, like pop up your ongoing fitness tracking activity, financial stock summaries, a Nest or Ring doorbell, an Uber’s progress, package deliveries, and daily commutes or time to leave for planned events. However, some of these aren’t super reliable in my experience; I really wish I could get “time to leave” to properly work for me, but it doesn’t. Maybe it’s because I use transit and don’t drive?

Regardless of why you use it, from severe weather alerts to flashlight reminders or crucial flight updates, At a Glance is easily the most useful widget you can add to your home screen. And the best part is that it “disappears” when there’s nothing contextually relevant. I get a minimal date and weather most times, but the moment there’s something interesting, it pops up with that info. I love that. It saves me from having unnecessary widgets flooding my home screen — weather, calendar, sports scores, buds battery life, flights, etc. — and remaining there even when there’s nothing to show. Now, that would be the real eyesore for me.

If I don’t have a meeting today, I don’t see the calendar part of At a Glance. If there’s no ongoing timer, I don’t see the timers. It’s this contextual adaptability that makes it crucial to any “smart” phone experience. At a Glance is the modern-day revival of Google Now, in a very compact form, and it works super well for that purpose. Give it a chance, and you may, like 53% of Android Authority readers and me, fall in love with it.