Pixel 11 envy? Here’s how to unlock its best new feature on any Android device

Have you heard? It’s that time of year again — time for some snazzy new Pixels to tempt our gadget-coveting “gimme!” reflexes and guide flagship Android phone expectations for months to come. Google’s latest and greatest gizmo is the Pixel 11 series, which includes the regular Pixel 11 and Pixel 11 Pro alongside the plus-sized Pixel 11 XL and Pixel 11 Pro XL and the fancy new folding Pixel 11 Pro Fold model (gesundheit!). El Googaloo took the wraps off all those new devices on Wednesday and has ’em all available for preorder now, with prices starting at $899 (regular Pixel 11), $1,099 (Pixel 11 Pro), and $1,299 (Pixel 11 Pro Fold). At first glance, this year’s Pixel models might not seem like the most exciting upgrades from last year’s Pixel 10 products. They bring plenty of significant refinements to an already successful formula, with some welcome ticks forward — like better cameras, brighter and more scratch-resistant displays, faster charging speeds, and an updated processor that supposedly leads to speedier and more efficient performance. And, of course, there’s more Gemini everywhere (for better or for worse, depending on your perspective). But impressive as it all may be, it’s mostly iterative improvements over the previous-gen Pixels — which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but also isn’t exactly awe-inspiring, at least on the surface. The most eye-catching addition to the Pixel 11 series is, rather ironically, a callback from Android’s past. It’s something Google’s calling HiLight, and it’s basically a new series of LED lights built into the freshly thinned-down camera bar on the phones’ backs. The lights illuminate to alert you to different events, allowing you to know about important incoming info at a glance — without having to so much as even look at your screen. If the concept feels familiar, it should: Early Android devices boasted a similar sort of LED notification light for a very similar purpose. They were less visually striking, but they served the same basic purpose — up until they went out of favor for the far more complex (and, some might argue, less effective) always-on display concept that followed. Here’s a little secret, though: You don’t have to have a new Pixel 11 phone in front of you to enjoy a similar sort of distraction-reducing, awareness-enhancing sorcery. You can actually recreate the Pixel 11 HiLight glow effect on any Android device this instant — and do it in a way that’s much more versatile, functional, and all-around useful, to boot. Lemme show ya how. [Get next-level knowledge in your inbox with my free Android Intelligence newsletter. One new and useful tip every Friday!] The lowdown on Pixel 11 HiLight First things first, a quick hit of context about the Pixel 11 HiLight system and how it actually works. As of the phones’ launch, HiLight is active only when the device is face down on a surface — perhaps not surprisingly, given that the lights live on the device’s back — and it works only in two super-specific scenarios: When you’re in the midst of getting an incoming call from a favorite contact, the Pixel 11 HiLight indicator glows with a custom color so you can see who’s calling and know it’s important. (It works with both the Pixel Phone app and WhatsApp, to start.) When you’re interacting with Gemini, HiLight pulses to let you know the system is listening, thinking, and responding. Aaaaaaaand, that’s it. The system doesn’t work with any other apps, according to Google, and it doesn’t interact with notifications in general to let you know about important pending activity beyond those incoming calls. It’s actually quite limited, in other words. And no matter what Android phone you’re using — even if it ends up being a Pixel 11! — you can take the same classic concept and make it infinitely more valuable. The trick revolves around a handy little power-user app called AodNotify. The app has a few different versions, depending on which specific type of Android device is in your paw right now: This version is for any and all Pixel phones This one is for Samsung Android gadgets This one is for OnePlus devices And this one is a catch-all for any other brand of Android handset Whichever version you end up with, AodNotify essentially creates your own custom notification light within your Android phone’s screen — by lighting up the area around your camera cutout at the top of the display, or alternatively creating a border-outline light that goes all the way around the phone front’s perimeter. And it shows up both when the screen is on and when it’s off. AodNotify puts a Pixel-11-HiLight-style notification light right on any Android device’s display.JR Raphael, Foundry It serves the same basic purpose as the Pixel 11 HiLight (as well as the old-school 2008-era Android phone LED notification lights that preceded it), but with some key advantages: You can see it when your phone is face-up — the way most folks seem to set their devices down when they aren’t actively in use. As a result, you can see it when your screen is on and you’re actively using the device as well as when the display is off, as mentioned a moment ago. You can have it light up to alert you of any manner of incoming call or notification with the same sort of simple at-a-glance recognition. And you can control exactly how and when it works, down to the tiniest of preferences, to make it perfectly useful for you. Compared to HiLight, the practical value of this approach is absolutely bonkers. Rather than just letting you know about important incoming calls when your phone is face down, AodNotify lets you see at a glance exactly what type of notifications are waiting for you at any given moment — without having to so much as pick up your phone or process any intricate on-screen info. Whatever alert it flashes can stay present and visible for any amount of time, too, so whether you hear a ding and want to glance to see what’s up or even if you miss the audio alert entirely (or have it disabled deliberately) and want to sneak a peek at your screen to know in a split second what’s waiting for you, AodNotify will get the job done. And it’s surprisingly easy to set up, too — with two to three minutes of one-time configuration that you’ll never have to think about again. Your own Android HiLight equivalent All right — ready? First things first, go install AodNotify from the Play Store, using whichever link is appropriate for your current Android device from above. Once the app is ready, open ‘er up and follow the prompts to get it going and grant it all the forms of access it needs to operate: First, you’ll select which apps can activate your new notification light and cause it to illuminate. If you want any and all notifications to be included, tap the “All” option at the top of the list. If you want to cherrypick and select only certain especially important apps while leaving others off, you can just choose whichever apps you’d like to have included. Next, tap the lines for “Notification access,” “Enable AOD,” and “Draw on screen,” if needed, and follow the prompts to enable AodNotify and/or the necessary option for each of the associated areas. This may seem like a lot of access, but AodNotify genuinely needs it to do what it does — and, critically, the app doesn’t require any other system-level permissions, including even access to the internet, so it couldn’t possibly do anything with your data (and its privacy policy is clear about the fact that it doesn’t collect or share any manner of data, ever). It’s also by a known and long-standing reputable Android developer. After that, you’ll see a pop-up prompting you to consider the app’s Pro version — which runs five bucks a year or $7 for a single one-time purchase. The Pro path turns off some ads in the AodNotify setup interface and enables some extra features. You may or may not want to consider it eventually, but for now, just hit the “x” in the upper-right corner of that prompt to dismiss it and move on. AodNotify’s initial setup takes roughly two to three minutes to get through.JR Raphael, Foundry Now for the fun part: At the app’s main setup screen, make sure the toggles next to “Notifications” and “Notification light” are active — then tap into each of those sections along with “Colors” and “General” to explore all of the available options. Of particular note: Under “Notifications,” the “Battery” section lets you activate a special notification light for anytime your phone is charging, fully charging, or with a low (less than 15%) battery — so you can always be aware of that info when it arises. Under “Notification light,” the “Style” selector will let you shift your spiffy new light from its default camera-cutout-outline position to a full-screen outline or a classic-Android dot-in-the-corner LED-type effect. “Effects” in that same section will let you change the light from a simple pulse to all sorts of other interesting light-up patterns. “Dimensions” will let you shift the exact size, shape, and placement of the light, if it doesn’t look quite right on your screen. And the “How long to show the light” subsection will let you adjust how long any active notification light remains present, both when your screen is on and when the display is dark. You’ll find all sorts of interesting settings for controlling how your custom notification light works.JR Raphael, Foundry Beyond all of that, some of AodNotify’s most helpful options are in its “Colors” settings section. There, you can specify different distinctive colors for messages or calls connected to different contacts, so you can see who is calling or texting you just by the color of the light (much like what the Pixel 11 HiLight feature does, only with a much broader and more sensible scope). And you can activate an off-by-default option to have your notification light automatically change its color to match the primary hue associated with any given app’s icon — which is a nifty way to know at a glance that a pending alert is coming from, say, your Calendar app or Slack. AodNotify’s “Auto color” option is one of the app’s most powerful — and easily overlooked — features.JR Raphael, Foundry And that’s pretty much it. Your Pixel-11-style HiLight upgrade is officially complete — with an even more useful productivity-boosting framework than what the Pixel 11 HiLight version provides. That’s the power of Android for ya. And it’s a power that’s present no matter what device is in front of you or how long you’ve been holding it. Never miss a moment of Android awesomeness with my free Android Intelligence newsletter. One new exceptional tip in your inbox every Friday — straight from me to ye.