The feature is handy on smartphones with large screens, as it can be difficult to reach objects at the top of the screen with one hand — for example, on my Pixel 6, I can reach maybe the bottom third of the screen with my thumb . While it was useful, I recently discovered that Google expanded the one-handed feature to include an option to open the notification panel with the same gesture. As far as I can tell, this feature isn’t new — judging by articles I’ve found covering the one-handed feature, it looks like Google added it sometime between December 2021 and February 2022 — but it’s new to me, and I thought it was worth sharing in case someone else didn’t know about it. As useful as the one-handed mode is, I didn’t feel like it solved my main problem. Whenever I needed something at the top of my phone screen, it was almost always a notification. But now that I can use the one-handed power gesture to open the notification shade, it’s a game changer. With the gesture enabled, you can quickly open the notification panel by swiping down on the gesture bar (or as Google actually calls it) at the bottom of the screen. If you want to switch to this method, go to Settings > System > Gestures > One-handed mode and tap Show notifications. You’ll also need to enable the Use one-handed mode toggle if it isn’t already. Finally, it’s worth noting that some or all of these settings may look different on non-Pixel Android phones, as many manufacturers include their own downloads for one-handed functions.
