Sometimes Google takes features away, but sometimes they're just hiding. Turns out, Android P still does have the System UI Tuner that we previously thought was removed. It's just not user-facing anymore. Interested parties can still access that hidden list of UI modifications, you just have to do it the long way, and we've got two methods here.
Read MoreAndroid P: Our 5 least favorite changes so far
Ten days have passed since we started digging into the Android P developer preview release, and while we've enjoyed many of the new changes and shared with you our five favorites, there are other modifications that left us scratching our heads a little. This is a developer preview, so things are expected to be buggy, some features could be experimental and could change with the next releases, but there are others that might be here to stay.
We've scoured our long, long list of Android P posts looking for those that we either don't like or that many of you voiced disapproval for.
Read More[Update: Still there, just hiding] Android P feature spotlight: System UI Tuner is nowhere to be seen
The System UI Tuner has never really been a feature for the masses. It was a way of hiding experimental features from the majority of users — you had to long press the quick settings cog to activate it — while still letting the more inquisitive of us play around if we wished. In the early Oreo developer previews there were quite a few interesting things in there, but by DP3 it was reduced to just a couple of status bar and DND settings. In Android P, it appears to have been removed entirely.
Read MoreAndroid O feature spotlight: System UI Tuner loses features in Developer Preview 3
It's not unusual for Google to add and remove elements during the preview program leading up to a new OS release. It happens all the time and is exactly what we've noticed with while checking out Developer Preview 3. The System UI Tuner is a place for experimental features anyway, so anything found there is always subject to change. The latest Android beta sees the removal of all 3 of the most recent additions to this menu.
Read MoreHere's how to enable Picture-in-Picture mode in Android O right now
Last year, Android 7.0 introduced picture-in-picture (PiP) mode, making it possible to shrink a playing video down to a floating window that appears above all other content, allowing users to continue watching a video while taking care of another task. Unfortunately, at the time PiP mode was only available for Android TVs, so very few people ever got to take advantage of it.
That changed with Android O, which has brought PiP mode to Android devices with screens much smaller than a television's, including phones and tablets. However, since Android O is so new and few developers have had the time and resources to update their apps, it's hard to find any app that actually supports PiP for now.
Read MoreHow to add permanent left/right cursor buttons and other neat keys to nav bar in Android O
One of the many new features in Android O is a revamped UI tuner with control over the navigation bar. If the layout of the buttons isn't right, you can change it. Want more buttons? Oh, it's got that too. In fact, you can add some useful things there, like left and right cursor buttons. Here's how.
Read MoreAndroid O feature spotlight: Custom shortcuts can now be added to the lockscreen via System UI Tuner
Google's version of Android has historically been relatively light on features, but the Mountain View-based company has been rapidly closing that gap. Other implementations of Android have had multi-window for a while now, but that took until 7.0 Nougat to make its way onto stock Android. Now, we're getting another feature that we've seen on other skins: custom lockscreen shortcuts.
Read MoreAndroid O feature spotlight: System UI Tuner gets a new navigation bar customizer
If you haven't noticed, today is a big day for Android fans. Android O has been made official, at least in an initial Developer Preview form. We here at Android Police are working hard to bring you relevant information and we figured this one might be of interest to some of you out there: the System UI Tuner is getting a new navigation bar customizer.
Read MoreThe Best Of AP
Android 7.1(.1) feature spotlight: System UI Tuner's Overview swipe-up split-screen gesture has disappeared
Split-screen multitasking on Nougat is great - I use it quite a lot when taking notes on my Nexus 6P in lectures or other talks that I may want to revisit later. However, one of the original multi-window features introduced back in the first N developer preview has disappeared in the 7.1.1 Beta; the swipe up split-screen gesture, found in System UI Tuner.
Read More
Google is working on an insane navbar customizer, currently hidden in 7.0
The System UI Tuner was only introduced in Marshmallow, but it's already got quite a few features, with one graduating to a fully-fledged feature (and others causing quite a bit of controversy). The next thing Google seems to be working on for it is a navigation bar customizer, allowing quite extreme customization of the now standard back-home-recents navbar.
The navbar customizer is currently hidden in Nougat's code.
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