{"id":585091,"date":"2026-02-12T17:15:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T17:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/585091\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T17:15:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T17:15:16","slug":"google-adds-more-convenience-to-its-free-vpn-built-into-pixel-phones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/585091\/","title":{"rendered":"Google adds more convenience to its free VPN built into Pixel phones"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img class=\"e_Gh\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"eager\"  title=\"VPN by Google One on Pixel 7 Pro stock photo 2\"  alt=\"VPN by Google One on Pixel 7 Pro stock photo 2\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/VPN-by-Google-One-on-Pixel-7-Pro-stock-photo-2-scaled.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Edgar Cervantes \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n<p>TL;DR<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Google\u2019s free VPN for Pixel phones is getting a useful upgrade.<\/li>\n<li>Its quick settings tiles now show the VPN\u2019s status.<\/li>\n<li>The update has reportedly begun rolling out as part of a server-side flip.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you use the built-in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/best-free-vpn-953904\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">free VPN<\/a> by Google on Pixel devices, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/vpn-by-google-rollout-3451759\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">replaced the previous VPN by Google One<\/a>, there\u2019s some good news. Google is making a minor change to the app\u2019s quick settings tile to save you time and show the current status.<\/p>\n<p>With the latest version of the Google VPN service, the bigger of the two quick settings tiles is being updated to display more information. Previously, the 2\u00d71 (two columns, one row) quick settings tile used to display the same text twice, i.e., \u201cVPN by Google.\u201d The tile previously filled with color when the VPN was active and reverted to a lighter hue when disconnected, but did not show the status.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Don\u2019t want to miss the best from Android Authority?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/andauth.co\/AAGooglePreferredSource\" class=\"e_2m\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\"><img class=\"e_Gh\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  title=\"google preferred source badge light@2x\"  alt=\"google preferred source badge light@2x\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/google_preferred_source_badge_light@2x.png\"\/><img class=\"e_Gh\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\"  title=\"google preferred source badge dark@2x\"  alt=\"google preferred source badge dark@2x\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/google_preferred_source_badge_dark@2x.png\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>However, with this change, the updated tile now displays one of the four VPN states. These are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Connected:<\/strong> shows by a filled-up quick settings tile that is rectangular (with curved corners) in shape.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Paused:<\/strong> the icon returns to a lighter shade and back to a pill shape<\/li>\n<li><strong>Connecting\u2026<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Can\u2019t connect<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Previously, users had to long-press the tile to view its exact status, so the update also saves those extra steps to access its exact state.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/9to5google.com\/2026\/02\/11\/pixel-vpn-quick-settings-update\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">9to5Google<\/a> notes that while these changes come as part of the latest version, they might be rolling out after Google flipped the switch at the server side.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re new to VPN by Google, you can set it up on your Pixel device (Pixel 7 and newer) by going to <strong>Settings &gt; Network &amp; internet &gt; VPN &gt; VPN by Google<\/strong>. Once you accept the terms and use the VPN, a tile will also appear in the quick settings pane. Tap the pencil icon, then the VPN tile, and use the grab handle to expand it to 2\u00d71. Unfortunately, the status cannot be viewed on a 1\u00d71 tile due to space constraints.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you for being part of our community. Read our\u00a0<a class=\"c-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/android-authority-comment-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" data-stringify-link=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/android-authority-comment-policy\/\" data-sk=\"tooltip_parent\">Comment Policy<\/a> before posting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Edgar Cervantes \/ Android Authority TL;DR Google\u2019s free VPN for Pixel phones is getting a useful upgrade. Its&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":585092,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[7],"tags":[2722,15882,158,67,132,68,20924],"class_list":["post-585091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-google","tag-google-pixel","tag-technology","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-vpn"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116058792600640274","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585091\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}