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Is there really no way to simply remove the search bar on Android 11

T

Troubled Koentje

Lurker
Hi,

I've bought a Cat S62 Pro phone and I keep getting more annoyed and frustrated by the searchbar on the home screen. It opens when I don't want it to, it keeps asking for permissions when I accidentally tap it and it's just a big waste of space. I've tried using the searchbar on my Nokia 6, Nokia 8.1 and Huawei P10 but I kept removing it in the long run because it sucks.

I haven't found a way to remove it on the S62 so far. The best I can do is disable it by disabling the "Google" app completely. But this just leaves a dead searchbar on my screen.

Crap search bar.jpg Dead search bar.jpg

You can hide the dead spot with a custom launcher like Nova or Lawnchair. Installing something that drains more battery and leaves you with even more unwanted crap on your phone just feels wrong.

I've found thousands and thousands of forum post of and crappy tutorials about removing the search bar. Has Google or Cat(?) really made it 100% impossible to simply remove the searchbar? If so, who and where do I start complaining?

Thanks for reading,

Koen.
 
Just get a different launcher. Try nova. It's in the play store. Purchase the nova prime key to unlock tons of customizations.

edit: i missed the fact about nova. there is no battery drain with it. been using it for a decade now with no issues!!!!
 
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plus i have yet to find "unwanted crap" with nova. they do not add anything extra other than the app. the prime key is a one time payment, but it rocks so much more stuff to customize your phone. the screen transitions between pages as well as for the app drawer are just amazing.

it is blazing fast and does not take up a whole lot of room nor does it hog up your battery life.

i know nothing about lawnchair. but the other launcher you can look into is adw. its pretty good as well, but i prefer nova.
 
I know the resource usage isn't very noticeable. Its only minutes on a battery load I belief. Nova seems to be the lesser evil. What a shame not being able remove a simple eyesore on a 600 euro phone is just wrong. Like how many lines of code can it be?

Customer support at Cat just informed they couldn't do anything about it because Google/Android doesn't allow manufacturers not include it.

So I guess all that's left is barking up Googles listening ear?
 
Nova was the only method I had left to restore the HTC Sense 3 UI on a modern phone until I ultimately ditched smartphones for a flip.

Try Launcher3. It runs on modern Android and hasn't been updated since Android 4.x. No search bars. A lot of cheaper phones come preinstalled with it.

"Barking up Google's ear" won't do a thing. They'll just tell you 'that's the way things are old man/woman' and hang up on you. Ask me how I know! Corporations these days don't care about their customers only their shareholders, completely invalidating all I had learned in Economics classes in '96.
 
Troubled Koentje said:
I've found thousands and thousands of forum post of and crappy tutorials about removing the search bar. Has Google or Cat(?) really made it 100% impossible to simply remove the searchbar? If so, who and where do I start complaining?

Thanks for reading,

Koen.
Click to expand...

FYI it's definitely CAT(the device manufacturer) you should address your complaints to, as it's their launcher and customisations. I've not seen any other devices that have an immovable search bar like that.
 
mikedt said:
FYI it's definitely CAT(the device manufacturer) you should address your complaints to, as it's their launcher and customisations. I've not seen any other devices that have an immovable search bar like that.
Click to expand...
I have: any Google device or any device using a Google launcher. Google want their search bar on your screen, they want you to use them for search, what you want isn't important. The Pixel launcher also has an unmovable clock/info widget on the main screen. In this case Google are actually more controlling than Apple, except that with Android you can change the launcher (but I always suspect that there are many android users who don't know that).

Just stick Nova on it. You'll have less crap, it won't add to your power drain (the stock launcher will go to sleep so you'll only be running the one launcher), and you'll be able to decide what's on your screens. I've been using it since 2014,never had a problem.

(The last time I tried Lawnchair it did something horrible which messed up how other launchers worked, so I'm afraid I won't ever try them again).
 
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Thanks for the info. I'm going to bark a little bit more up Cat's tree. There are indeed Android 11 phones that do allow you to remove/change the searchbar. Good thing I don't mind endlessly complaining till I get what I want or till i find a workaround.

Going to give Nova another try.
 
Troubled Koentje said:
Thanks for the info. I'm going to bark a little bit more up Cat's tree. There are indeed Android 11 phones that do allow you to remove/change the searchbar.
Click to expand...
I'm sure the issue is the choice of launcher that the manufacturer installs. If they wrote their own (as e.g. Sony, Samsung or OnePlus do) there would be a chance they'd add the feature if enough people complain. But if they just use Google's launcher then you are probably out of luck, because Google aren't going to change this.
 
Too bad changing the launcher can't fix the missing 'wifi' toggle in Android 12. Three steps instead of one just to turn Wifi on/off.

You can find the launcher that's used in one of two ways:

Settings-->Apps-->Default apps-->Home

Settings-->apps--All apps-->scroll until you see the 'house' icon and look at its name. That's usually the launcher.
 
nickdalzell said:
Too bad changing the launcher can't fix the missing 'wifi' toggle in Android 12. Three steps instead of one just to turn Wifi on/off.
Click to expand...
Sorry, what is this? I just press the shortcut in my notification slide, which is what I've done for the last decade or more. And that's definitely been a stock feature on every Android version I've used from 4.something to 13 (I moved to custom so quickly with Android 2 that I can't remember what the stock software did or didn't have).

Is this a third-party widget you want to use instead?

(The Samsung lets me put such a toggle in the "edge panel" too, but that's manufacturer-specific rather than a standard Android feature).
 
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nickdalzell said:
Too bad changing the launcher can't fix the missing 'wifi' toggle in Android 12. Three steps instead of one just to turn Wifi on/off.
.....
Click to expand...

Missing in Android 12? It sounds more like the icon for it was somehow disabled in your phone. Swipe down twice from the top menubar to access the extended menu of apps/services and re-add the WiFi icon.
 
No, in Android 12 the icon is just called "Internet". You have to tap that, a sub-menu appears, then you tap Wifi off. It used to be a single toggle called 'Wifi' and was separate from 'mobile data'

turn-off-wifi-android-12-1-a.png


This has been a thing on Pixels and stock for a while now. Only Samsung One UI and other skinned variants left it alone.

Google justifies it with this:

"From our user studies, we found that the majority of users turn off Wi-Fi in order to force their phone to connect to cellular. This is usually done in response to a poor Wi-Fi connection and the lack of an alternative way to get the phone to explicitly connect to the user’s carrier. Users who turn off Wi-Fi will often forget to turn Wi-Fi back on again, resulting in possible excess mobile data usage."

Android 12 Internet button: How to bring back old toggles - 9to5Google

Other complaints here:
WiFi toggle in Android 12 - Google Pixel Community

Although the first article mentions bringing the old toggle back via ADB, My attempts at using ADB fail miserably, much like my attempts to get stupid MTP working.
 
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nickdalzell said:
No, in Android 12 the icon is just called "Internet". You have to tap that, a sub-menu appears, then you tap Wifi off. It used to be a single toggle called 'Wifi' and was separate from 'mobile data'

View attachment 164625

This has been a thing on Pixels and stock for a while now. Only Samsung One UI and other skinned variants left it alone.

Google justifies it with this:

"From our user studies, we found that the majority of users turn off Wi-Fi in order to force their phone to connect to cellular. This is usually done in response to a poor Wi-Fi connection and the lack of an alternative way to get the phone to explicitly connect to the user’s carrier. Users who turn off Wi-Fi will often forget to turn Wi-Fi back on again, resulting in possible excess mobile data usage."

Android 12 Internet button: How to bring back old toggles - 9to5Google

Other complaints here:
WiFi toggle in Android 12 - Google Pixel Community

Although the first article mentions bringing the old toggle back via ADB, My attempts at using ADB fail miserably, much like my attempts to get stupid MTP working.
Click to expand...
I usually tap on the wifi icon, and it has like a short cut down on the bottm half and just click it on and off, really really quick on nova.
 
nickdalzell said:
No, in Android 12 the icon is just called "Internet". You have to tap that, a sub-menu appears, then you tap Wifi off. It used to be a single toggle called 'Wifi' and was separate from 'mobile data'

View attachment 164625

This has been a thing on Pixels and stock for a while now. Only Samsung One UI and other skinned variants left it alone.

Google justifies it with this:

"From our user studies, we found that the majority of users turn off Wi-Fi in order to force their phone to connect to cellular. This is usually done in response to a poor Wi-Fi connection and the lack of an alternative way to get the phone to explicitly connect to the user’s carrier. Users who turn off Wi-Fi will often forget to turn Wi-Fi back on again, resulting in possible excess mobile data usage."
Click to expand...
Ah, I was using A11 when my Pixel died so haven't experienced that. Just had a look at my wife's Pixel 5 and yes, it looks like there's one extra step.

I can see advantages in that it gives more options without going into the menu (change or select WiFi network), but how often do you do that? But the justification you quote makes no sense: how would this help users to remember to turn WiFi on again? If the notifications are closed it makes no difference. If it changes colour when WiFi is off then so does the traditional one, so apart from being bigger, again no difference (except you won't know whether it's WiFi or mobile data that's off, so arguably less useful). This sounds like typical Google, an explanation that doesn't actually make sense to justify something they decided to do.
 
I think they view it as if you only see 'internet' you won't touch it, period. Then it doesn't matter, or something.

I stopped trying to figure out Google a long time ago. It was making brain.exe stop working.

My workaround when I was still using 12 was to install a third-party widget or edge panel that had a control center to override it. Old AOSP Power Control APKs were great for that and my usual UI design preferences.
 
Troubled: Even nova without paying into cash, can really conceal it, after a spell it goes poof, I probably just fiddle it around, and just have it over on its side too on my tabet too. It really takes a second and move it away from the home screen.
 
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