How to use search bar on Android Pie to adjust settings

Google Pixel was Google’s first official entrance into making smartphone hardware and it has managed to hold its own against a lot of the newer devices. If you have switched to a Google Pixel or Pixel XL, there are a ton of features that you will have access to. Although it may be impossible to get a handle on every single feature that is available on your phone, there is still a lot you can do. The latest Android 9 Pie update brings a whole lot of new features to your phone. It’s worth upgrading your phone if you don’t already have the update.

One of the key features that have been incorporated into Android 9 Pie is called Slices. Google introduced Android Slices at I/O 2018 and started testing it with third-party apps later that year. Slices have been designed to allow key features of applications in places where they weren’t available before. One of the places they will pop up in is Google Search.

At the Android Developer Conference that took place last November, Google provided details about how it would surface Slices as part of an Early Access Program with third-party apps like Doist and Kayak. In addition to on-device features like apps, contacts, music etc, and web results. Slices also show up when users perform a search within the Google app.

Slices for various device preferences have now started to appear on Pixel devices that run Android 9 Pie. While you would’ve asked Google Assistant to toggle things on or off. The latest implementation of Slices has made it much easier to access a variety of Android Settings from within Google Search. (Note that this feature is only available for Pixel devices)

If you search for something like Bluetooth (or you can type in Blu) or Night Light using your Google search box available on the home screen, the last choice on the search drop-down menu will have a toggle available for that particular feature which can be used to turn the app off or on.

Performing a search for 'volume’ will give you an adjustable range. You don’t need to type the whole name of a feature out in order to access them. For example, searching for “bright” will get you the toggle for Adaptive Brightness. On the other hand, while entering Wi-Fi with a dash will get you a toggle for your wireless connection, entering WiFi without the hyphen will not.

Typing in Google Photos will show a carousel of images right in Search. Apps like Lyft will provide you with the option of booking a cab directly. Settings Slices appeared over the past several weeks via a server-side update. Slices extend all the way back to devices that are running on Android 4.4 but they aren’t live yet. But they are only available on Pixel devices that run on Pie so far. But fret not, because the option to get access to key features of apps on your Google search interface will be arriving soon.