Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Android 16 Beta 2 introduces a new “double press power button” menu.
- This menu lets you choose between launching the camera app or the default wallet app when double pressing the power button.
- Previously, double pressing the power button on a Pixel phone always launched the default camera app.
Android makes it quite easy to launch the Google Wallet app, which is handy in case you store a lot of different credit cards, transit passes, or other items you need to frequently pull up. You can either tap the app’s icon on your home screen, tap the wallet tile in Quick Settings, or press and hold the lock screen shortcut. On some Android phones, you can even double press the power button to bring up Google Wallet. Double pressing the power button on a Pixel phone always brings up the camera app, but that’s something you can finally change in the latest Android 16 beta.
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Google is rolling out Android 16 Beta 2 today, and after installing it on one of my Pixel phones, I noticed that the “quickly open camera” page has been replaced with a new “double tap power button” page. This screen is located under Settings > System > Gesture, and it lets you set the double-tap power button shortcut to either launch the Pixel Camera app (the default camera app on Pixel phones) or the default wallet app. I first spotted this page in the third beta for Android 15’s second quarterly release, but it’s now live in Android 16 Beta 2.
When you change this setting to “Wallet,” you can double-tap the power button to open the default wallet app regardless of what app you’re in. However, if you double-tap the power button while the phone is locked, you’ll need to first unlock your phone to see your cards. This is presumably done for security reasons so people can’t see the cards in your wallet while your phone is locked.
Here’s a short video of me demonstrating this feature on a Pixel 9 Pro running Android 16 Beta 2. As you can see, changing the “double tap power button” setting to “Wallet” allows me to launch the default wallet app (which I’ve set to Google Wallet) when I double-tap the power button.
This is a handy feature for those who frequently need to quickly pull up Google Wallet, but I wish it were more configurable. There’s no reason, in my mind, for the gesture to be limited to just the camera and wallet apps. Many OEMs offer far more customization in this department, but it seems that Google wants to keep things simple for now.
