Can one remove the 'Google App' from the opening screen?

[Chris Green]

As per subject can one remove the 'Google App' from the opening screen
of an Android phone (Android 11 if it's important)? By 'Google App' I
mean the big oval[ish] banner at the top of the screen.

As a corollary can one get a straightforward time and date display on
the screen when the phone is on/open? I have mine set to show time
and date when it's 'on but locked' but this disappears when I unlock
it. Since the fingerprint reader takes me straight to unlocked I lose
the time and date which is sometimes all I want to know.



--
Chris Green
·

[Andy Burns]

Chris Green wrote:

> As per subject can one remove the 'Google App' from the opening screen
> of an Android phone

Try different launchers, they allow more customisation than the standard
one.

[VanguardLH]

Chris Green <c...@isbd.net> wrote:

> As per subject can one remove the 'Google App' from the opening screen
> of an Android phone (Android 11 if it's important)? By 'Google App' I
> mean the big oval[ish] banner at the top of the screen.

I'm still back on Android 8 (LG discontinued my phone over 2 years ago,
and discontinued products don't get OS updates. For me, I would simply
click and hold on the app, and then drag it up to the Trash icon (or
Remove icon) that appears during dragging.

> As a corollary can one get a straightforward time and date display on
> the screen when the phone is on/open? I have mine set to show time
> and date when it's 'on but locked' but this disappears when I unlock
> it. Since the fingerprint reader takes me straight to unlocked I lose
> the time and date which is sometimes all I want to know.

That is called a widget. You may already have time widgets (some
include weather) bundled on your phone. For me, I tap and hold on the
screen until the reorder window appears. At the bottom are some tool
icons: Widgets, Wallpaper, Home screen settings, and App trash. Click
on the Widgets icon. Scroll around checking what time or weather+time
widgets are available.

Some apps also include their own widget. When installed, they should
register their widget, and be selectable as described above.

Sounds like you have a lockscreen setting to show time. That's not a
widget that displays in a home screen when unlocked.

[AJL]

On 7/10/2021 1:46 PM, Chris Green wrote:

> can one get a straightforward time and date display on the screen
> when the phone is on/open? I have mine set to show time and date
> when it's 'on but locked' but this disappears when I unlock it.
> Since the fingerprint reader takes me straight to unlocked I lose the
> time and date which is sometimes all I want to know.

I use 'Day Widget' by Techmerity Labs from the Play Store. I put it on
the top left of the home screen under the phone's time (which is already
there as yours should be). You don't have to tap it as the widget
displays the current day/date/month right on the icon.

[paul]

Chris Green wrote on 10.07.2021 22:46

> As per subject can one remove the 'Google App' from the opening screen
> of an Android phone (Android 11 if it's important)?

Are you sure you're not just "micky" using another nym (same as "T" & others
who ask a whole bunch of questions that nobody else would _ever_ ask)?

Anyway, I'll assume you're not just trolling us with these questions that
anyone who knows anything would already long ago (like years ago) know.

Assuming you're serious, and to be helpful, as others noted, just install
any decent launcher which allows you to do whatever you want (& I mean,
_whatever_ you want) with apps & widgets.

Here's what my screen looks like, for example (no Google search app).
<https://i.postimg.cc/y6p53m46/homescreen01.jpg>

And here's the free launcher I used for that screenshot & sample setup:
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.teslacoilsw.launcher>

Besides, the _only_ think I use the Google Search App for is it's the
speech-to-text engine for Android, but nothing else it does is important.
<https://i.postimg.cc/vZ4Vt9DW/gboard01.jpg>

So _everything_ else about that Google app is disabled on my phone.
<https://i.postimg.cc/9FmRKqnz/stt01.jpg>
--
Usenet allows purposefully helpful people to learn from each other.

[Chris Green]

VanguardLH <V...@nguard.lh> wrote:
> Chris Green <c...@isbd.net> wrote:
>
> > As per subject can one remove the 'Google App' from the opening screen
> > of an Android phone (Android 11 if it's important)? By 'Google App' I
> > mean the big oval[ish] banner at the top of the screen.
>
> I'm still back on Android 8 (LG discontinued my phone over 2 years ago,
> and discontinued products don't get OS updates. For me, I would simply
> click and hold on the app, and then drag it up to the Trash icon (or
> Remove icon) that appears during dragging.
>

That doesn't happen to the Google App on my Android 11 device, click
and hold just opens a 'Preferences' box and that doesn't offer a way
to remove or move it. Click and hold on other apps works just as
always.

[snip all about widgets]

Yes, thank you, I now have a clock widget on my home screen.

--
Chris Green
·

[Chris Green]

paul <nos...@nospam.invalid> wrote:
> Chris Green wrote on 10.07.2021 22:46
> > As per subject can one remove the 'Google App' from the opening screen
> > of an Android phone (Android 11 if it's important)?
>
> Are you sure you're not just "micky" using another nym (same as "T" & others
> who ask a whole bunch of questions that nobody else would _ever_ ask)?
>
> Anyway, I'll assume you're not just trolling us with these questions that
> anyone who knows anything would already long ago (like years ago) know.
>

I know quite a lot about Unix and Linux and not very much about Android! :-)

I've just moved back from a 'feature phone' to a modern Android one
(Umidigi Bison) and I'm still very much feeling my way getting it
configured how I want it.

> Assuming you're serious, and to be helpful, as others noted, just install
> any decent launcher which allows you to do whatever you want (& I mean,
> _whatever_ you want) with apps & widgets.
>

Yes, I think a launcher is probably what I need, though it seems wrong
to have to install an 'extra' in order to get rid of something! At
the moment 'lean launcher' looks like a good candidate.

Thanks.

--
Chris Green
·

[VanguardLH]

Chris Green <c...@isbd.net> wrote:

> VanguardLH <V...@nguard.lh> wrote:
>
>> Chris Green <c...@isbd.net> wrote:
>>
>>> As per subject can one remove the 'Google App' from the opening
>>> screen of an Android phone (Android 11 if it's important)? By
>>> 'Google App' I mean the big oval[ish] banner at the top of the
>>> screen.
>>

>> I'm still back on Android 8 ...

>> For me, I would simply click and hold on the app, and then drag it up
>> to the Trash icon (or Remove icon) that appears during dragging.
>
> That doesn't happen to the Google App on my Android 11 device, click
> and hold just opens a 'Preferences' box and that doesn't offer a way
> to remove or move it. Click and hold on other apps works just as
> always.

Does the following still work in Android 11?

Tap and hold (for several seconds) a blank spot in a home screen. An
overlay appears showing the layout of the objects on the screen.

I mentioned dragging, but the layout screen also has red-circled X's
next to each object. Instead of dragging, you can click on a red X to
remove an object from the screen.

> [snip all about widgets]
>
> Yes, thank you, I now have a clock widget on my home screen.

Then you'll see the time and date, as wanted, when you unlock your
phone.

[Chris Green]

VanguardLH <V...@nguard.lh> wrote:
> Chris Green <c...@isbd.net> wrote:
>
> > VanguardLH <V...@nguard.lh> wrote:
> >
> >> Chris Green <c...@isbd.net> wrote:
> >>
> >>> As per subject can one remove the 'Google App' from the opening
> >>> screen of an Android phone (Android 11 if it's important)? By
> >>> 'Google App' I mean the big oval[ish] banner at the top of the
> >>> screen.
> >>
> >> I'm still back on Android 8 ...
> >> For me, I would simply click and hold on the app, and then drag it up
> >> to the Trash icon (or Remove icon) that appears during dragging.
> >
> > That doesn't happen to the Google App on my Android 11 device, click
> > and hold just opens a 'Preferences' box and that doesn't offer a way
> > to remove or move it. Click and hold on other apps works just as
> > always.
>
> Does the following still work in Android 11?
>
> Tap and hold (for several seconds) a blank spot in a home screen. An
> overlay appears showing the layout of the objects on the screen.
>

Not on mine, tap and hold on background brings up a box offering "Home
Settings", "Widgets" and "Wallpapers". Home Settings has an option
"Show Google App - When you swipe left from main Home Screen" but that
makes no sense at all since the Google App is there anyway. I tried
turning the option on and off but I could see no difference in how
thngs work.

--
Chris Green
·

[VanguardLH]

Which "Android phone"? There isn't just one one brand and one model.

Is this your phone, or someone else's? If someone else's, could be they
enabled a security feature that locks the screen layout to prevent
non-owners from modifying the phone's setup.

Is app pinning enabled or not? Settings -> Security -> Advanced -> App
pinning

Are you using the launcher that comes with Android? Or are you using
some 3rd-party launcher (e.g., Nova, Niagara, Hyperion, Poco [the one
Xiaomi uses])?

[paul]

Chris Green wrote on 11.07.2021 10:04

> Yes, I think a launcher is probably what I need, though it seems wrong
> to have to install an 'extra' in order to get rid of something! At
> the moment 'lean launcher' looks like a good candidate.

You do not need a launcher to delete a widget. Period.

In any launcher, AFAIK, it's utterly trivial to remove _anything_ from the
homescreen, & particularly the "Google" search widget is trivial to remove.

I use that space for more important things, all of which are in my control.
<https://i.postimg.cc/2yYK4N0W/newpipe02.jpg>

I've had, oh, I don't know, a dozen different Android phones over time.
They all come with the Google search widget & they all lose them instantly.

In addition the "Google" search widget is one of the first things I disable.
<https://i.postimg.cc/9FmRKqnz/stt01.jpg>

You should post a screenshot of what your screen looks like, and that would
save a lot of time for the people trying to help you remove the widget.

As for the launcher, if you like 'lean', it's _trivial_ to have as many
launchers as you like with Android (but only one can be the default).

Looking up this "lean" launcher, I find
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hdeva.launcher
https://github.com/hundeva/Lean-Launcher

Seems decent from the description.
--
(Having multiple launchers is impossible with iOS, but trivial on Android.)

[Andy Burns]

paul wrote:

> You do not need a launcher to delete a widget.

With the Pixel Launcher, the "search pill" isn't a widget, you can't
remove it, hence you *do* need a different launcher.

> Period.

[paul]

Andy Burns wrote on 11.07.2021 12:20

> With the Pixel Launcher, the "search pill" isn't a widget, you can't
> remove it, hence you *do* need a different launcher.

I very much appreciate your knowledge and experience in this area,
where what you call the "search pill" I believe, I think, is this module
<com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox> Google search module
<com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox.SearchActivity> main activity

Where I disabled (long ago) the activity for it called "Add to Home Screen"
<com.android.launcher3.AddItemActivity>

I did that even for the original "Google Now Launcher" as I recall.
But I admit that would have been done the very same day I got my Samsung
(so I don't recall issues removing that pill from the original launcher).

Thanks for that clarification that, with the Pixel Launcher, the "Google"
search module (which you termed a "search pill") can't be removed.
<https://i.postimg.cc/qMP1nkvM/gboard04.jpg> gboard uses search module
<https://i.postimg.cc/vZ4Vt9DW/gboard01.jpg> mic needs search module

If that's true, I struggle to understand why the icon to the Google search
module can't be removed from a homescreen though, as I've never seen any
icon of _anything_ that couldn't be removed on _any_ Android phone I've ever
owned (albeit I've never owned the pixel line of phones).

I've had _plenty_ of phones purchased _from_ Google though, and certainly
plenty of others, where _none_ have ever needed to change launchers just to
delete an "icon" on the screen of "whatever" type it turns out to be.

I trust that you're correct but I wonder _why_ Google would make a launcher
that brain dead that it can't even manage its own icons properly?

I trust that you're correct, but I also wonder if there isn't a workaround,
as I've found plenty of workarounds to supposedly intractable things in the
past.

As you may be aware, I disable _all_ Google modules that I can get away
with, and if I can't disable them (because they perform some necessary
function), then I remove all permissions from them save for what's needed.

To that end, I can't completely disable the "Google" search module you speak
of but I can remove all the permissions except access to the microphone
(which is needed for speech to text for my SMS app and web browser search).
<https://i.postimg.cc/9FmRKqnz/stt01.jpg>
<https://i.postimg.cc/CKWZv7Nd/stt02.jpg>
<https://i.postimg.cc/ydcD2RQj/stt03.jpg>
<https://i.postimg.cc/nrxXxLNJ/stt04.jpg>
<https://i.postimg.cc/Kv20Hskj/stt05.jpg>
<https://i.postimg.cc/nhV0Hj1t/stt06.jpg>

But I certainly can _remove_ the icon from my homescreen, and I can disable
most of its permissions (save for the mic which I need for speech-to-text).

Are you sure there's no workaround to removing the "search pill" from your
homescreen in the default launcher? (If not, that's a terrible launcher.)