Pixel 11 Pro Fold Apps That Made Me Keep Using It
Pixel 11 Pro Fold apps are a huge reason I’m still using this phone after expecting to switch back to my Oppo Find N6 within a month. Smart Launcher, Essentials, Material Capsule, StandBy Mode, and HiLight Studio have made the Pixel 11 Pro Fold look, feel, and behave far closer to the way I want. If you like deep Android customization without making the phone feel janky, these are the apps that changed the experience for me.
Smart Launcher is the biggest reason I stayed
Smart Launcher has probably been the single biggest aspect that has kept me using the Pixel 11 Pro Fold as long as I have. On pretty much every other phone I’ve used, whether that’s Samsung, Oppo, Nothing, Xiaomi, you name it, third-party launchers are just not that pleasant to use. But Google has clearly been putting in some yards behind the scenes, because Smart Launcher on the Pixel has been way more fluid than I expected.
Not every third-party launcher feels this good. I tried other launchers on my Pixel Fold, and they weren’t nearly as smooth as Smart Launcher. Thankfully, Smart Launcher also happens to offer the best mix of an aesthetically pleasing home screen and basically every customization trick I could want.
The animations when opening and closing apps are very, very close to stock launcher levels of fluidity. I even experimented with my classic KWGT home screen setup workaround using the stock Pixel Launcher, and Smart Launcher felt just as fluid in comparison.
The foldable support is where it gets even better. Smart Launcher lets me create separate home screen setups for the outer display, the inner display, and even rotated states. Those three display configurations are all independent setups I configured manually, so the launcher looks and behaves exactly how I want no matter how I use the Pixel 11 Pro Fold.
hands down this app is the biggest reason that I've been loving using the Pixel 11 Pro Fold as much as I have
— Sam BeckmanEssentials fixes Pixel annoyances Google still hasn’t
Essentials is another app that has kept me using the Pixel 11 Pro Fold. I had used it before on my Oppo Find N6, and while it does work on other operating systems, it works its best in conjunction with Google Pixel phones. There are so many little Pixel-specific tweaks in here that I don’t have time to unpack half of them.
The first tweak I really care about is under display, then navigation: Essentials can completely hide the system navigation bar. That is a long overdue feature I’ve been waiting for Google to add natively for forever.
The second is in the widget section, under replace search bar. Essentials lets me replace the persistent search bar widget on the Pixel Launcher, or even better, completely disable it. For my setup, that alone makes the Pixel Launcher feel much less restrictive.
A recent software update also made Essentials good enough that I stopped using what was originally going to be the next app in this video: Button Mapper. I was remapping a long press of the volume up key to cycle between loud and vibrate modes, but I still wanted normal volume control when the system volume panel was showing. Essentials now handles that.
Even better, the developer figured out a solution for switching between loud, vibrate, and true silent modes. Other apps trying to automate that action had started switching phones into Do Not Disturb instead, which is not what I wanted. At least at the time of making this video, I’m now all in on Essentials.
The lock screen notification setting I didn’t expect to like
There is one native Pixel setting I also need to mention because it has genuinely changed how I use the phone. In Settings, under notifications, then notifications on lock screen, I now keep show viewed notifications disabled.
That means new notifications still appear on the lock screen as usual, but once I unlock the phone and relock it, those viewed notifications are hidden. I used to really dislike this behavior because it’s basically the default on a lot of Chinese Android skins, but after using the Oppo Find N6 for so long and building a workaround into my reminder app, I’ve ended up loving it for digital well-being.
Material Capsule makes live alerts feel native
Material Capsule is probably just as impactful as Essentials for me, and only a notch below Smart Launcher. When I was using the Oppo Find N6, I really fell in love with its Dynamic Island inspired live alerts feature, and I genuinely missed it when I switched to the Pixel 11 Pro Fold.
After trying dozens of Dynamic Island style apps, Material Capsule is hands down the best one I found. Rather than completely ripping off iOS’s Dynamic Island design, it uses a more material expressive style, and I think that absolutely works in its favor.
The functionality is basically everything I was looking for. Mini capsule events can show brief animated pills for charging, Wi-Fi connecting or disconnecting, Bluetooth headphones connecting, or volume mode changes. Dynamic cards go further by showing an expanded card when tapped, including charging information, media playback, active timers, and even a torch slider when the flash is enabled.
You can also set up gestures and have notifications appear in the capsule. The whole thing looks and feels really authentic, and it adds an extra layer of functionality that is really hard to go back from once you get used to it.
StandBy Mode is better than I expected on Android
StandBy Mode is basically a perfect emulation of the feature available natively on iPhones, but I’d argue this version is 10 times better. It works in portrait mode, lets you customize when and how it launches, and includes way more clocks and dashboards.
There’s also a new dashboard that emulates Google’s new charging screen saver. The developers even updated the app so it can be used through Google’s screen saver feature, meaning it can show automatically whenever the phone display goes to sleep while charging and upright.
Because the Pixel 11 Pro Fold has Qi2 magnetic charging built in, using StandBy Mode feels even more authentic. It’s one of those apps that makes the phone feel more intentionally set up, especially when it’s sitting on a charger.
HiLight Studio is a no-brainer if you use Pixel highlight
HiLight Studio is the bonus app here. It didn’t crack my main list because I rarely use my phone face down, so I almost never make use of the highlight functionality. But if you’ve picked up one of the new Pixel 11 Pro phones and you do use that feature, this app could be a game changer.
Google’s highlight feature is limited out of the box to a custom light and color when speaking to Gemini or receiving calls from favorites. HiLight Studio makes it infinitely more useful by letting you set custom light animations for any app installed on your phone.
For example, I have WhatsApp set to show a wavy green animation, SMS set to show a pulsing blue indicator, and phone calls set to show a rainbow animation. I don’t personally use highlight all that much right now, but if I did, or if I ever do in the future, this app is a no-brainer.
These apps made the Pixel 11 Pro Fold feel like mine
The Pixel 11 Pro Fold surprised me because I expected to move back to my Oppo Find N6 quickly. Instead, these apps went a long way toward making it a phone I can see myself using indefinitely going forward.
Smart Launcher fixes the home screen experience, Essentials removes Pixel annoyances and adds better controls, Material Capsule brings back live alerts in a way that feels native, StandBy Mode makes charging more useful, and HiLight Studio expands a feature Google barely opens up by default. Together, they made the Pixel 11 Pro Fold much better than I expected.
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