Android 12 is here and brings a lot to the table but you may find yourself wanting to customize the default date and weather widget, dubbed At a Glance, anyway. And that’s precisely what this guide is here to discuss. Namely, how to customize the At a Glance widget in Android 12 so that it only shows the details you want it to show.
Here’s how to customize the Android 12 At a Glance widget
Android 12 brings a lot of personalization to the table, making it possible to not only customize a widget but also how those look. One of the sole exceptions to that, unfortunately, is “At a Glance.”
While the widget doesn’t, on its own, look terrible, it also doesn’t support the latest theme elements to quite the same extent. Meaning that some users will be left with at least one widget, loaded with potential information, that doesn’t support the colors to help it match the rest of their UI.
Moreover, some users may want to keep the widget for its date information and calendar entries. But not for its weather details. Or not for other details that are supported by other widgets. But having duplicated information on-screen is, summarily, almost worse. So let’s take a look at how to change all of that.
Here’s how you can remove the weather information from the Android 12 At a Glance widget
Now, one of the most common reasons for anybody to customize the At a Glance widget in Android 12 is arguably going to be to remove duplicate information. While the widget is incredibly useful, it isn’t the prettiest one on Android 12. Especially for those who want the new look offered by the Android 12 Weather widget. Which, conversely, does fully support Material You theming.
Fortunately, it’s a fairly straightforward process.
- Navigate to the home screen on your Android 12 device
- Long-press the At a Glance widget
- Select “Customize” to open up the menu to customize At a Glance on Android 12
- Google’s UI will highlight the appropriate Settings option. Namely, via a click on the gear-shaped icon highlighted. Select that icon
- Scroll down the page to “Weather,” under the “Features” category
- Un-toggle the “Weather” option
- Untoggle the “Alerts” option, since the weather widget will also show those
- You should also now toggle or un-toggle any other options that you don’t want to show on your home screen. Such as Flights, Upcoming Calendar events, or Work Profile Calendar events. As shown in the images below
What other customizations are there in the At a Glance menu?
Of course, those toggles aren’t the only aspect of the At a Glance widget that you can customize in Android 12 either. In fact, you can also customize location history, home, work, and other addresses, as well as whether sensitive information is shown on your lock screen via At a Glance.
How to control location history via At a Glance
- The first option shown on the above-mentioned At a Glance customization screen on Android 12 is “Location History.” And it does what its naming convention implies. Namely, it provides one-click access to your Location History, via the Activity Controls segment of the Google Account settings. Now, if that sounds unwieldy, that’s because it is. Many users simply don’t know how to access those settings. And Google is offsetting that somewhat by allowing users to access it via At a Glance customization
- Tap on “Location History” to access controls to turn off the history, see what devices are on the account associated with location history, turn on or off auto-delete functionality, and manage past activity in location tracking
How to adjust Your places in At a Glance on Android 12
- Next, tap on Home and work to customize “Your places.” That’s Google’s stored information regarding your work and home addresses and geolocations. As well as any other important addresses you’ve saved. Of course, you can also easily navigate to any of those or check the traffic for any of those. And the page provides useful hints for how to use Assistant and more. But, for At a Glance, this helps Google provide pertinent information about travel times, traffic, and more when it comes to your commute or travel
How to turn off sensitive lock screen details via At a Glance
- The final item in the “Personalization” aspects of At a Glance comes with a “Sensitive content on lockscreen” label. And, as might be guessed from that, it’s another portal out of the At a Glance customization page. Redirecting more specifically to the “Privacy” segment of the Notifications options menu
- Tap on “Sensitive content on lockscreen” to see where you can toggle on or off notifications that may be sensitive in nature. That way you can choose whether to show them or not when your smartphone is locked.