Google finally adds a home screen widget for the Pixel Buds

What you need to know

• Google is making it easier for Pixel phone owners to quickly access their Pixel Buds settings on their devices.
• There is now an option to add a shortcut widget for the Pixel Buds, which places a new app-style icon on the home screen.
• This feature is rolling out in an update to the Pixel Buds app, version 1.0.3909.

Google's Pixel Buds and Pixel Buds A-Series are some of the best wireless earbuds that you can buy for your Android phone. While most Android phones have had a Pixel Buds app for several years now that provides quick device settings access, the experience of using the true wireless earbuds with a Pixel smartphone has finally caught up thanks to the addition of a new home screen widget option in Android 11.

Spotted by 9to5Google, this widget feature is made possible thanks to a new version of the Pixel Buds app — version 1.0.3909. Once the app is updated, Pixel smartphone owners can long press on the home screen to pull up the Home settings and Widgets selector panel. From there, they can tap on the Pixel Buds Shortcut (there is only one size/option). This prompts the user to select their Pixel Buds from a list (in case they have multiple pairs), and then it creates a shortcut icon on their home screen that looks like a typical Android app icon.

This widget can also be enabled by diving into the "More settings" screen of the Pixel Buds settings from within the system settings menu. It's worth reiterating that Google's new Pixel Buds shortcut widget is mostly just a way for Pixel phone owners to jump directly into and manage their earbud settings without navigating through systems settings menus and is not a way to manage playback and multimedia controls. If that is what you're looking for, you still have that option in the notification settings pulldown menu, and many music and audio apps have their own multimedia widgets.