Google Pixel 6 Pro: Tips, tricks and cool features

The Google Pixel 6 Pro has an outstanding camera and lots of small and big features on top. Here are my personal tips, with no claim to being complete. As always, I bought the device myself, so this is my own opinion.

Camera and photos

1. Magic Eraser: With it, you remove unwanted objects or people from the picture. You find it under Edit, Tools, Magic Eraser. The software sometimes makes suggestions, for example it recognizes people automatically. You can also draw in what should disappear yourself, in my case the calendar on the wall, for example. Depending on the background, that works better or worse, but overall I find it practical.
2. Locked Folder: Before taking a shot, you tap the folder icon at the top right and decide whether the photo or video ends up in the normal gallery or in the Locked Folder. Items in the Locked Folder are not visible in the gallery. You find the folder in the Photos app. Move pictures you have already taken into the Locked Folder via the three dots.
3. Motion mode: New is a camera mode for dynamic backgrounds, for example a street with moving cars. You are sharp, and the background is shown blurred.
4. Switching cameras with your wrist: You switch between the main and selfie camera by quickly twisting your wrist twice. Whether that is more practical than the icon is debatable.
5. Shutter by voice: That is not new, but it is practical. It replaces the self-timer.
6. Google Lens: If you have a photo with text, Google Lens shows the recognized text highlighted. You can copy it, have it read aloud or have it translated. That is great on vacation, for example with street signs or the menu.

Controls and gestures

1. One-handed mode: The Pixel 6 Pro is quite big. Since Android 12, you activate one-handed mode in the settings, then you lightly swipe down over the bar at the bottom edge. To exit, you swipe up again.
2. Quick Tap: Google apparently copied this from iOS, which does not make it any less cool. Under System and Gestures, you set what happens when you tap the back twice. The sensitivity can be adjusted. I find screenshot and assistant pretty cool.
3. Adjusting gesture control: In the last video I had problems because the back gesture was often triggered by accident when swiping through photos or Instagram. A viewer gave me the tip: under System, Gestures and System navigation, you can adjust the sensitivity for the touch gestures on the left and right. I set the right one to the lowest. Thanks a lot for the tip!
4. Flip to Do Not Disturb: If you put the Pixel on the table upside down, it can activate Do Not Disturb, which is practical in meetings.
5. Selecting text in the overview: In the overview of recently opened apps, you can select, copy, share or search the text shown. Unfortunately, you cannot translate there.

A bug: On mine, Quick Tap does detect the double tap but triggers neither a screenshot nor the assistant. All it says is “Quick Tap detected”. That is a typical Android 12 bug. The setting exists, and maybe it will work with the next update.

Speech and text

1. Voice typing: When I want to dictate an email, I activate it through the keyboard. The recognition works amazingly well and accurately, and the text appears very quickly.
2. Automatic transcription: With it, you record conversations, meetings or media playback. If you open Transcription and YouTube in split screen, you can transcribe videos and copy the text into a Word document. That is also useful for people with severely impaired hearing or for online lectures.
3. Live Translate: You activate it at the volume control and have videos and speech output translated into the language you want. For YouTube, I find that great when I want to watch a video in a language I do not understand.
4. Now Playing: When music is recognized nearby, the lock screen shows the song title and artist. You can look at the history later. Gone are the times when you frantically searched for your phone when a cool song was playing.

Verdict

Those were my tips and tricks for the Pixel 6 Pro. Whether they really help you in everyday life is for you to decide.