Smartphone

While you can lower the brightness of the Google Pixel 6a, its minimum brightness output may still be too bright for your eye comfort. By lowering the screen brightness even more, you should also be able to save on battery life as well as prevent screen burn-in effects.

To see how you can further dim down the display of this smartphone, you can take a look at this guide from Seeking Tech.

How to dim the Pixel 6a screen

There are two ways that you can dim the screen of the Pixel 6a. Keep in mind that these steps are based on the Android 12 operating system. If you are using a newer OS, then the steps may end up being slightly different.

The fastest way to dim the screen brightness down for your smartphone is to use the quick settings menu. To access it, swipe down from the top of the screen. You then need to swipe down again to expand the Quick Settings menu. Alternatively, you can use two fingers to swipe down from the top of the screen to immediately open the Quick Settings menu. Either way, you should find the brightness slider located at the top.

The other method is by using the Settings App. In order to do so, open the Settings App and then select Display. If you can’t find Settings, then you can open the aforementioned Quick Settings menu and then select the gear cog icon. Inside of the Display menu, you then need to tap Brightness Level to bring out the slider at the top of the screen.

How to make the Pixel 6a screen extra dim

If the minimum brightness level on the brightness slider of the Google Pixel 6a is still too bright for your eyes, then you can make the screen extra dim by taking the following steps:

1. Open the Settings App on your Google Pixel 6a.

2. Once you arrive in Settings, then you need to select Accessibility from the list of available options.

3. Inside the Accessibility menu, select the Extra Dim option.

4. After getting inside the Extra Dim menu, make sure you enable the “Make Extra Dim” setting.

5. In the same Extra Dim menu, you can also adjust the dimming intensity. You can move the slider to the left to make the screen dimmer or to the right to make the screen brighter.

6. Furthermore, you can enable the “Keep on after device restarts” setting in the Extra Dim menu so that the you can keep the same brightness level even if you choose to reset your Pixel 6a.

7. From the same Extra Dim menu, you can choose whether or not to add an Extra Dim Short icon.

If you do, then the icon will appear at the bottom right side of the screen that you can tap to quickly change between the regular brightness and the extra dim modes.

Notifications can show up on the lock screen of your Google Pixel 6a. To see how you can customize this feature for your smartphone, you can take a look at this tutorial from Seeking Tech.

Before we begin, it is important to note that the following steps are based on the Pixel 6a running on the Android 12 operating system. If you are running a newer Android OS, then there may be small changes made to the system menus.

1. For the first step, make sure you turn on your Pixel 6a if you haven’t done so already.

2. You should also make sure that you are in the home screen menu of your phone.

3. From the home screen, open the Settings App.

If you aren’t able to located the Settings App, then you can swipe upwards from an unoccupied space in the home screen in order to bring up a list of installed applications. Here, you should be able to find and open Settings.

4. Once you get inside the Settings App, you then need to select Notifications.

5. In the Notification menu, scroll down to the Privacy section.

6. After getting to the Privacy section, select the “Notifications on lock screen” option.

7. In the small “Notifications on lock screen” pop-up menu, you can select the following options:

• The “Show conversations, default, and silent” option will show the conversation, default and silent message types when you screen is locked.
• The “Hide silent conversations and notifications” option won’t show any conversations and notifications that are set to silent.
• The “Don’t show notifications” option won’t show any notifications at all in the lock screen.

8. In the same Privacy section from the Notification menu, you can also choose whether or not to turn on the “Sensitive notification” setting.

If you turn it on, then notifications that contain any private information will be shown when the screen is locked.

If you turn the “Sensitive notification” setting off, then any notifications that have private information will be blocked from being shown on the lock screen.

9. You can also choose which app that you want to enable or disable notifications for.

In order to do so, return to the Notifications menu and then select App Settings at the top. From the App Notifications menu, select the drop-down menu and the All Apps to see a list of installed applications on your Google Pixel 6a. You can then choose to enable or disable any apps you see in this list.

With the Google Pixel 6a, you can use a dark theme or light theme. To see how you are able to switch between these two display options, you can take a look at this tutorial from Seeking Tech.

Why you should use a dark theme with Pixel 6a

A dark theme for the Google Pixel 6a is considered to be better in terms of eye comfort due to the reduction in blue light output. As a result, you will get less eye strain when looking at a light-colored text on a black background.

Since the phone doesn’t need to output in high brightness in order to light up a white background, you should also be able to save a little bit of battery life as well.

How to enable dark theme for the Pixel 6a

In order to enable the dark theme for the Google Pixel 6a, you need to take the following steps:

1. Turn on your Pixel phone if you haven’t done so already.

2. Next, you need to open the Settings App.

If you can’t find it, then you can swipe upwards from an empty space of the home menu. If done correctly, you should be able to see a list of installed applications on your Pixel 6a, which should include Settings.

3. From the Settings menu, you can either select Display or Accessibility.

4. In the Display or Accessibility menu, you then need to make sure that the Dark Theme setting is turned on.

The display theme should immediately switch over to a dark background with light-colored text.

Why you should use a light theme for Pixel 6a

A light theme generally provides a clearer image on your Google Pixel 6a when compared to a dark theme. As a result, you should able to get better readability.

How to enable light theme for the Pixel 6a

In order to activate the light theme for the Google Pixel 6a, you need to do the following:

1. Turn on the smartphone and then open the Settings App.

2. Once you get into the Settings menu, you can select either the Display or Accessibility settings.

3. From the Display or Accessibility menu, you need to make sure that the Dark Theme setting is turned off.

The display theme should immediately switch over to a light background with dark-colored text.

Although the Google Pixel 6a features a smaller screen size when compared to the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro, you may still have a hard time using the smartphone with just one hand. Fortunately, the device does come with a one-handed mode.

To see how you can turn on this setting in order to make the phone easier to use without two hands, you can take a look at this tutorial from Seeking Tech.

1. To begin, turn on your Google Pixel 6a if you haven’t done so already.

2. Next, you need to open the Settings App of the phone.

If you can’t find Settings on the home screen, then you can swipe upwards from a vacant area to open an overview of installed applications on your smartphone. From there, you should be able to locate the Settings App.

3. Once you arrive in the Settings menu, you first need to scroll down near the bottom of the list and then select System.

4. From the System sub-menu, you then need to select Gestures.

5. After arriving at the Gestures sub-menu, we recommend that you go to System Navigation first.

6. In the System Navigation menu, make sure that the Gesture Navigation is selected. This setting is needed in order to enable one-handed mode on your Pixel 6a.

After activating gestures, makes sure you read the description to see how you can navigate the system menus of your smartphone by using swiping gestures. You can also tap the gear cog icon located to the right for additional customization options.

7. After making sure that Gesture Navigation has been turned on, go back to the Gestures sub-menu.

8. From the Gestures sub-menu, you need to select the One-Handed Mode option.

9. In the One-Handed Mode sub-menu, make sure that the Use One-Handed Mode setting located at the top is turned on.

10. In the same sub-menu, you can also customize the swipe down gesture where you can either pull the top of the screen within the reach of your thumb or use the gesture to show notifications and settings.

11. In the One-Handed Mode sub-menu, you can also add an icon that will act as a shortcut for the one-handed mode.

12. To disable the one-handed mode, you can turn off the Use One-Handed Mode setting located at the top of the aforementioned One-Handed Mode sub-menu. Alternatively, you can switch the system navigation to 3-button navigation in the System Navigation menu.

By default, you need to use swiping gestures in order to navigate the system menus of the Google Pixel 6a. To see who you can add a go back, home and app overview buttons for this smartphone, you can take a look at this tutorial from Seeking Tech.

How to navigate the Google Pixel 6a system menu by using gestures

Without any customizations, you need to use swiping gestures to move around the system menu.

In order to go back to the previous screen or page, for instance, you need to swipe to the left from either the left or right edge of the screen.

If you want to open the home screen, then you need to swipe up from the bottom of the screen.

To see an overview of currently opened applications, you need to swipe up from the bottom of the screen and then hold for a little bit before releasing.

When compared to tapping buttons on the screen, using swiping gestures can be more finnicky and not as accurate. Therefore, you may want to consider using button navigation instead in order to move around the Pixel 6a user interface.

How to add a go back, home and switch app buttons to the Pixel 6a

If you want to add the go back, home and switch app buttons to your Google Pixel 6a, then you need to take the following steps:

Before we begin, it is important to note that these steps are based on the Android 12 operation system. A new version of the Pixel 6a OS may end up having slightly different menus.

1. Start off by turning on your smartphone if it is not currently powered on.

2. Next, you need to make your way to the phone’s Setting App.

If you can’t find the Settings application, you can go to the home screen. From there, swipe upwards from an empty spot to open a list of installed apps. You should be able to find Settings on the listing.

3. Once you get to the first page of Settings, scroll down and then select System.

4. Inside of the Settings sub-menu, you should then select Gestures.

5. In the Gestures sub-menu, select the System Navigation option.

6. After you get to the System Navigation menu, make sure you select the 3-Button Navigation setting.

7. After making the change, you should see three new buttons added to the bottom of the screen.

With the triangle button, you will be able to go back to the previous page or screen.

You can use the circle button to bring up the home screen.

The square button is used to bring up a list of applications that are currently opened.

8. If you want to switch back to Gesture Navigation, then you need to open the Settings App. From there, go to System > Gestures > System Navigation and then select Gesture Navigation.

When you press and hold the power button on your Google Pixel 6a, you may not be able to open up the power menu where you can restart or shut down your smartphone. To see how can change this button assignment, you can take a look at this tutorial from Seeking Tech.

Where is the Google Pixel 6a power button located?

You can find the power button of the Pixel 6 a on the top right side when you are holding your phone upright with the camera lens at the top.

The power button is the top most button on the right side.

What is the default way to open the power menu of the Pixel 6a?

The default method of opening the power menu is by pressing and holding both the power button and volume up button at the same time.

Alternatively, you can swipe down from the top of the screen in order to open the Quick Settings menu. You then need to swipe down from the top again in order to expand the menu. From the expanded Quick Settings menu, you should be able to select the power icon in order to open the power menu.

What is the default function when pressing and holding the Pixel 6a power button

Pressing and holding the power button of your Pixel 6a will activate the Assistant feature where you can use your voice to control the smartphone.

How to make the Pixel 6a power button open the power menu

If you want to change the button configuration so that pressing and holding the power button will open the power menu on your Google Pixel 6a, then you need to take the following steps:

Before we start, it is important to note that these steps are based on the Android 12 operating system. So, there may be slight variations if you are using a newer version of the Android OS that may have changed the user interface.

1. To start off, turn on your Pixel 6a if you haven’t done so already.

2. Next, you need to open the Settings App.

If you can’t locate it from the home screen, then you can swipe upwards to find a list of installed applications on your 6a phone. You should be able to find the Settings App from there.

3. With the Settings App opened, scroll down to the bottom of the menu and the select System.

4. Once you arrive at the System menu, select Gestures from the list of available options.

5. Inside of the Gestures menu, select the “Press and hold power button” option.

6. In the “Press and hold power button” menu, make sure that the “Hold for Assistant” option is disabled.

By disabling the “Hold for Assistant” option, the power button can now be used to open the power menu where you can power off the device, restart the device, put the device on lockdown or put the device in emergency mode.

You can test out the button configuration by holding the power button. If you follow the previous steps correctly, you should be able to bring up the power menu.

If you want to clean your Google Pixel 6a without damaging it, then you can take a look at this guide from Seeking Tech to see how you can properly do so.

What cleaning solution can you use for Pixel 6a?

For the cleaning solution, we recommend using a liquid that contains at least 70% isopropyl alcohol. By doing so, you will be able to disinfect your Pixel 6a in addition to cleaning it at the same time. Not to mention that isopropyl alcohol will be able to dry out a lot of quicker when compared to plain water and other liquids.

If you are looking for a specific product recommended for cleaning this Google device, then we suggest picking up the MG Chemicals 99.9% Isopropyl Alcohol Electronics Cleaner on Amazon with this link. (#CommissionsEarned).

As for other solutions, you can use also plain water. To clean the clean specifically, you can use an eyeglass cleaning solution. For the non-screen parts, you can use household soap as well as a bleach-free liquid.

What cleaning cloth you can use for the Pixel 6a?

When it comes to the type of cleaning cloth you can use with your Google Pixel 6a, a soft cloth that is free of lint should work best.

If you don’t have one lying around to use, then we recommend picking up the Magic Fiber Microfiber Cleaning Cloths, which you can find on Amazon with this link. (#CommissionsEarned).

How to clean the Pixel 6a

In order to clean the Google Pixel 6a, you can take the following steps:

1. Turn off your Pixel smartphone if you haven’t done so already. Make sure you shut down the entire device and not just turn off the screen.

2. Remove any cables or accessories you have attached.

3. If you are using a case, then make sure you remove it as well.

4. Next, you need to apply the cleaning solution directly to a soft-lint free cloth. Do not put any liquid directly on your Pixel 6 as the excess liquid could end up seeping inside any openings and cause liquid damage.

When applying the cleaning solution to the cloth, try not to make it too damp. If it is, then you can squeeze out the excess solution before continuing to the next step.

5. You can then start wiping your Pixel 6a. We suggest using a circular motion for efficient cleaning.

If your cloth gets dirty during the cleaning process, then you can try cleaning the cloth before continuing or use a new one.

6. Once you are done with wiping your Google Pixel 6a clean, you should then let the smartphone sit until it dries up at room temperature.

To make this step go by faster, you can put the phone near a fan as doing so will provide better air circulation. Avoid using a heat source like a hair blow dryer as you may end up damaging your phone in the process.

7. Once you Pixel 6a phone has dried, you should be able to start using it again.

If you want to avoid getting your Google Pixel 6a wet, as well as how you can properly dry the smartphone when it gets exposed to liquid, then you can take a look at this guide from Seeking Tech.

What is the ingress protection of the Pixel 6a?

The Google Pixel 6a has an ingress protection rating of IP67. In terms of water resistance, it has been rated to protect being submerged underwater at a depth of 1 meter for a maximum of 30 minutes.

As for dust protection, the smartphone should be dust tight.

Keep in mind that this Google device will lose its resistance to dust and water over time due to general wear and tear. Damaging and/or opening your phone will also affect its ability to block out liquid or solids.

Is liquid damage covered under warranty for the Pixel 6a?

Unfortunately, liquid damage will void your warranty. Therefore, it is important that you avoid causing any hardware damage due to exposing your phone to water.

How to prevent water damage to the Google Pixel 6a

To avoid causing liquid damage to your Pixel 6a, you can try taking the following precautionary steps:

1. Do not intentionally drop your phone in a body or water or expose it to high pressure water.

2. Avoid using or placing the device in an environment that has extreme humidity such as a bath, shower or sauna.

3. Try not to damage your phone as a visible crack or chip may be enough to break its water resistance.

4. Get a case for your Google Pixel 6a. By doing so, you will add another layer of protection against water exposure. Furthermore, the case will also protect against small bumps and drops that may have otherwise cause cracks and other types of damages that could weaken the phone’s water protection capabilities.

How to dry a wet Google Pixel 6a

If your Google Pixel 6a managed to get wet, then you can do the following to properly dry the smartphone in order to prevent any potential permanent hardware damage:

1. If you drop your Pixel 6 phone in a body of water, then you should take it out as soon as possible.

Keep in mind that the device has been rated to protect against being submerged at up to 1 meter in depth for half an hour. Therefore, the longer you wait, the more likely that the phone could end up suffering from hardware damage.

2. Next, you need to turn off your phone. Make sure you fully shut it down and not just turn off its screen.

3. With the phone turned off, we recommend that you gently shake the phone to remove any liquid that may have seeped inside the phone.

4. You should then use a dry, soft cloth to wipe the remaining wet spots dry.

5. Afterwards, lay the Pixel 6 phone over another dry cloth and then let it dry out at room temperature. You can speed up the drying process by putting the Google device near a fan for better air circulation.

6. Once you believe that your smartphone has completely dried, you can try turning it back on again. Afterwards, you can test it out to see if there are any problems.