Try this app if you miss Google’s Active Edge feature on your Pixel 5
- By default, you can’t press the Pixel 5 to start the wizard.
- However, you can add functionality back with an app called SideSqueeze Plus.
If you’ve recently bought a Pixel 5, you may have noticed that Google’s newest premium phone is missing something that’s been in the lineup since the Pixel 2 in 2017. Active Edge, the feature that let you squeeze your phone to launch Assistant, isn’t on the Pixel 5. It’s also not available on the Pixel 4a and 4a 5G.
Connected: Everything you need to know about the Pixel 5
However, it turns out that using third-party software, you can add something similar to all three phones in a similar way. As a thread by TheDogstarLP points out on the Android subreddit, you can download an app called SideSqueeze Plus to add Active Edge-like functionality to Pixel 5 and other Android devices. Since SideSqueeze Plus doesn’t have a dedicated hardware component, it doesn’t work as consistently as Active Edge. One advantage, however, is that you don’t just have to use the gesture to start the wizard. You can bind both single and double squeeze gestures to different actions. Best of all, you don’t need root access to your phone.
You can download SideSqueeze Plus from the Google Play Store. When we asked Android Authority The majority of readers said they wanted Google to keep the feature. So it’s nice that those who like the feature can get something similar to replace it.
