Ryan Haines / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Toggling your cellphone’s Wi-Fi or Bluetooth radio could solely require a single faucet in Android 16.
- As a part of the overhauled Fast Settings panel, the Web and Bluetooth tiles could also be up to date to assist toggling Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with a single faucet.
- Since Android 12, toggling Wi-Fi required two faucets, and the identical has been true for Bluetooth since Android 14 QPR2.
Your entire purpose that Android has a Fast Settings panel is to make it simple to shortly flip sure options on or off, however some options are simpler than others to toggle by way of Fast Settings. For instance, toggling your cellphone’s flashlight requires a single faucet, whereas toggling its Wi-Fi or Bluetooth radio requires two faucets. It wasn’t all the time this manner, although, as older variations of Android solely required a single faucet for Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Thankfully, subsequent yr’s Android 16 replace may flip Wi-Fi and Bluetooth into one-click toggles as soon as once more.
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One of many largest modifications in 2021’s Android 12 launch was its redesigned Fast Settings panel, which swapped smaller toggles with bigger, rounded, rectangular buttons. Though many of the tiles labored like earlier than in that they had been single-click toggles, the outdated Wi-Fi and cellular information tiles had been changed with a brand new “Web” tile that all the time opened a panel when tapped. The toggles for Wi-Fi and cellular information had been moved to this panel, making it two faucets to toggle both radio.
Android’s Web panel that Google launched in Android 12.
Though the one-click nature of the Bluetooth tile wasn’t modified with the Android 12 launch, it was ultimately modified with the second quarterly platform launch of Android 14 that Google rolled out earlier this yr. In Android 14 QPR2, the Bluetooth tile was additionally reworked in order that it might open up right into a panel when tapped, making it two faucets to toggle Bluetooth.
Hadlee Simons / Android Authority
Android’s Bluetooth panel that Google launched in Android 14 QPR2.
These modifications, for my part, are for the higher, for the reason that Web and Bluetooth panels make it simple to change between networks or Bluetooth gadgets. Nonetheless, these modifications weren’t appreciated by some individuals who discovered it annoying that Google made it more durable to show off Wi-Fi, cellular information, and Bluetooth. These complaints had been so fervent, in truth, that it made Google put out a weblog publish defending its resolution to introduce the brand new Web tile.
The corporate clearly had good intentions when making the Web and Bluetooth panels, nevertheless it’s comprehensible that customers who continuously toggle Wi-Fi, cellular information, and Bluetooth are aggravated by having an additional faucet the place they used to solely want one. Android 16 could have discovered an answer that satisfies everybody, fortunately.
In current weeks, we’ve been sharing our findings concerning Google’s efforts to overhaul the notifications and Fast Settings panels in Android 16. In our most up-to-date publish that paperwork how Google could allow you to resize Fast Settings tiles in Android 16, considered one of our astute readers seen one thing that I had missed: the background of the Web and Bluetooth tiles wasn’t totally crammed in like all the remaining. In truth, solely a small portion across the icons was crammed in, suggesting that tapping the icon would toggle the respective radio whereas tapping the remainder of the tile would open the panel.
Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
After this was delivered to my consideration, I instantly examined it and confirmed the Web and Bluetooth tiles now labored this manner. Tapping the icon for Web toggled Wi-Fi, whereas tapping the icon for Bluetooth toggled Bluetooth. In the meantime, tapping anyplace on the remainder of the Web or Bluetooth tile opened their respective panels. In hindsight, it ought to have been apparent to me that this could be the case, given that you just’d count on the resized, 1×1 variations of the Web and Bluetooth tiles to easily be toggles.
I believe these modifications are an amazing compromise, and I hope they make their method to Android 16 subsequent yr. They offer us the very best of each worlds: a one-click toggle and entry to an expanded panel in a single tile. You continue to need to increase the Web panel to toggle cellular information, however you possibly can merely faucet the airplane mode tile as an alternative if you wish to shut down cellular information. I doubt Google will cut up Wi-Fi and cellular information into their very own respective Fast Settings toggles as soon as once more, so if you happen to actually need that, you possibly can look into some third-party apps or use a cellphone from an OEM like Xiaomi the place these toggles nonetheless exist.
