Though Google mostly added privacy and security features in Android 13’s Beta 3 rollout, there are a few new features being added for refining your experience.
One of them is the displaying of search suggestions in the Pixel Launcher when a user types something into the search bar of the home or app drawer. This is enabled by default but can be disabled in settings. Also, there are search shortcuts for a typed item in various Google apps, shown in the search suggestions.
Search Suggestions in Pixel Launcher
As per its testing timeline, Google rolled out the third beta version of Android 13 last night with a slew of improvements made to users’ privacy and security. We’ve seen the Android 13 system issuing a warning for apps with no split permissions for specific media file types and other security features.
But there’s also a helping feature we’ve spotted from Mishaal Rahman’s Esper blog – search suggestions in Pixel Launcher. Enabled by default in Android 13, Google explained this feature as;
“You can now get web results based on what you type. Only web suggestions that you select are saved in your search history. You can turn this off in Preferences.”
If you wish to disable this, go to Pixel Launcher settings and turn off the toggle. Well, this is recommended only if you’re annoyed by the full-screen suggestions or irrelevant content that showed up. If not, having this feature enabled is good, as it makes your searches faster.
Search settings are now available in Beta 3's Pixel Launcher settings. Here, you can toggle "web suggestions" which will show web results when typing in the search bar on the home screen or app drawer. pic.twitter.com/5xy6y7qk9m
— Mishaal Rahman (@MishaalRahman) June 8, 2022
You’d see suggestions popping up similar to suggestions from a Google search, and selecting any of the suggestions will save them for a quick search next time. This works in the search bar of both the home screen and app drawer of Pixel Launcher.
And it’s not just the web results that are displayed when you type something in, but also search shortcuts in various Google apps like YouTube, Maps, Play Store, and Settings.
This increases the Pixel Launcher’s capability of finding things easier, aside from already being able to find app shortcuts, phone settings, contacts, conversations, and tips now.
