Google’s smartest widget gets a major update: here’s what to expect

The smart ‘At a glance’ widget for Pixel phones is getting a series of improvements soon. The widget will soon show the battery status of connected Bluetooth devices, as well as information about who is at the door for your Nest doorbell and data about your sports activities in Google Fit.

At a glance improvements

‘At a glance’, or ‘Quick overview’ in Dutch, has been Google’s smart widget for years that shows the right information that is relevant at all times. You’ll see upcoming calendar events on Pixel phones, as well as updates about traffic on your way to work or flight data from Gmail.

At a glance is a handy widget, but although Google has given a lot of widgets a new look in recent months, no changes have been made for At a glance. A series of new widget additions have been discovered in the code of Pixel 6 phones, which reports 9To5Google. These are all relevant things:

• Bedtime: When your Google Clock preset bedtime approaches, the widget will alert you.
• Connected devices: The connection status and remaining battery power of bluetooth devices appears in the widget. For example, the battery capacity of a pair of bluetooth earphones.
• doorbell: Google tells you who is at your door for your Nest doorbell.
• Sports and health: Information about your last workout is displayed. This data comes from Google Fit.
• Flashlight: Sometimes you leave your flashlight on unintentionally. Not anymore thanks to warnings in At a Glance.
• Security check: Recommendations for security on your phone
• Timer and stopwatch: The status of your set timers and stopwatch.

Availabilty

When several data are relevant, you will be able to scroll between the info from At a glance. At the moment these are functions that are still being worked on behind the scenes and improvements for At glance have not yet been rolled out. We do expect that Google will make the update available for all Pixel phones and not just for the Pixel 6 series. It is not yet known when that update will come.

Don’t have a Pixel phone? Don’t worry, because this app works similar to At a glance and usually goes a step further. Previously, Google rolled out a slew of new and improved widgets that you can discover here. The latest additions are the improved Gmail widget and the widget for Google Drive. Which widgets do you use on your home screen? Let us know in the comments at the bottom of this article.