Android 16 lets you switch Wi-Fi with a tap again

The reason Android has a quick settings panel is to make it easier to turn certain features on or off, but some features are easier to toggle in quick settings than others. For example, you need to tap once to toggle your phone’s flashlight, but you need to tap twice to toggle your Wi-Fi or Bluetooth radio. However, this wasn’t always the case, as older versions of Android only required one tap for Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Luckily, next year’s Android 16 update could once again make it possible to switch between Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with a single click.

One of the biggest changes in the 2021 Android 12 release is the redesigned Quick Settings panel, where small toggles have been replaced with large round rectangular buttons. Most tiles worked the same as before in that they were toggled with a single click, but the old Wi-Fi and Mobile Data tiles were replaced by a new “Internet” tile that always opened a panel when tapped. The Wi-Fi and mobile data toggle button has been moved to this panel, allowing you to switch between either radio with two taps.

The one-click nature of Bluetooth tiles remained unchanged with the Android 12 release, but it finally changed with the second quarterly platform release of Android 14 that Google rolled out earlier this year. In Android 14 QPR2, the Bluetooth tile has also been reworked to open a panel when tapped, allowing you to toggle Bluetooth with two taps.

In my opinion, these changes are for the better, as the Internet and Bluetooth panels make it easier to switch between networks or Bluetooth devices. However, these changes were not appreciated by some people who found it annoying that Google made it harder to turn off Wi-Fi, mobile data, and Bluetooth. In fact, these complaints were so passionate that Google published a blog post defending its decision to introduce the new Internet Tile.

It’s clear the company had good intentions when manufacturing its Internet and Bluetooth panels, but users who frequently switch between Wi-Fi, mobile data, and Bluetooth are finding themselves with an extra tap when they previously only needed one. It’s understandable to feel frustrated about certain things. Thankfully, Android 16 may have found a solution that will satisfy everyone.

Over the past few weeks, we’ve been sharing our findings about Google’s efforts to overhaul the notifications and quick settings panel in Android 16. In our latest post, Google documents how to make quick settings tiles resizable in Android 16. The reader noticed something I had overlooked. The background of the Internet and Bluetooth tile was not completely filled like the other tiles. In fact, only a small portion of the area around the icon was filled in, suggesting that tapping the icon would toggle the respective radio, while tapping the rest of the tile would open the panel.

After noticing this, I immediately tested and confirmed that the Internet and Bluetooth tiles behaved this way. Tap the Internet icon to toggle Wi-Fi, and tap the Bluetooth icon to toggle Bluetooth. Meanwhile, tapping on the rest of the Internet or Bluetooth tiles opened their respective panels. In hindsight, it should have been obvious that this was the case, given that the resized 1×1 version of the Internet and Bluetooth tiles would have been expected to simply be a toggle.

I think these changes are a great compromise. We hope to see it in Android 16 next year. These offer the best of both worlds, with one-click switching and access to expanded panels in a single tile. You have to expand the Internet panel to toggle mobile data, but if you want to shut down mobile data, you can just tap the airplane mode tile instead. I don’t think Google will split Wi-Fi and mobile data into separate quick settings toggles again. So if you really want it, you can consider some third-party apps or use an OEM phone like Xiaomi where these toggles still exist. exist.