Google Pixel’s Always-on Display could soon know when to chill

Taking inspiration from Apple’s newer iPhones, Google added wallpaper support to the Pixel 10‘s Always-on Display screen. But a new report suggests the company is working on an even bigger change for the AOD feature that could significantly improve battery life.

Right now, Pixel phones offer minimal control over the Always-on Display. You can either turn it on or off, with the Pixel 10 offering the an extra option of displaying the lock screen wallpaper when AOD is active.

While Google doesn’t explicitly mention it, Pixel phones are smart enough to automatically turn off the Always-on Display when placed face down or during Bedtime mode. But Google’s implementation doesn’t go far enough. Ideally, Pixels should also turn off the AOD after a period of user inactivity to save battery life.

Samsung already offers a similar option on its phones, turning off the Always-on display when there’s no user activity. This helps reduce power consumption while also ensuring the AOD is ready whenever you need it. Plus, it helps increase the panel’s lifespan and avoid burn-in issues.

Android Authority found references to Google working on a similar “turn off display on inactivity” feature in the newest Android Canary build. The option will “power(s) down the display when no user activity is detected to save power.”

Every bit of battery savings counts for Pixels

Modern OLED panels have gotten increasingly power-efficient and sip very little power in AOD mode — all by ramping down the refresh rate to 1Hz. So, you might think this AOD improvement might not make much of a difference to the phone’s overall battery life.

While this might have been true for a Samsung or OnePlus phone, that’s not the case with Pixels. As the Pixel 10 Pro XL shows, even with a more efficient Tensor G5 chip and a beefy 5,000mAh+ battery, it only delivers respectable battery life, so any improvement is always welcome.

Given that the feature only appears in code strings from the latest Android Canary build, it may be some time before Google rolls it out publicly, if ever. And even when the change goes public, it might be only limited to newer Pixels.