I’m probably showing my age here, but I still think the power button should primarily be for power controls.
Over the past few years, Android phones have slowly turned the power button (which I still stubbornly call the lock button) into a shortcut for voice assistants and, more recently, Gemini.
The idea sounds reasonable on paper. Hold the button, ask a question, get an answer.
In practice, though, I’ve found myself accidentally launching Gemini far more often than I’ve intentionally used it. I’ll restart my phone or turn it off, only to have Gemini suddenly pop up asking how it could help.
The issue hasn’t been a big enough annoyance to make me stop using Gemini altogether, but it happened often enough that I eventually went looking for a fix.
Fixing the problem only took a few seconds after I found the setting that was responsible.
Using Gemini with the power button is useful, but mostly annoying
I understand why Android phones now offer a quick shortcut to Gemini through the power button.
Apple has been doing something similar for years, and with Gemini becoming more context-aware, including the ability to understand what’s on your screen while you’re asking questions, it can genuinely be a useful feature.
The problem is that it isn’t particularly intuitive for a lot of people.
Take my dad, for example. Every time he needs to restart his Android phone, he ends up asking me how to do it. He can never remember whether it’s the power button and volume up or the power button and volume down.
And I’m not much better. I test a lot of phones throughout the year, and I’m currently using the Google Pixel 10 Pro as my daily driver. Still, I occasionally forget that holding down the side button no longer brings up the power menu.
Having quick access to Gemini from anywhere is convenient. But there are other, and more convenient, ways to bring it up.
But I still find it frustrating that Google and other Android manufacturers changed the default behavior of the side button in the first place. Thankfully, the fix is pretty easy.
The power button shortcut turned out to be the real culprit
A single setting was responsible for most of the accidental launches
It turns out the issue is simple.
By default, most Android phones are configured so that pressing and holding the power button launches Gemini instead of opening the traditional power menu.
Thankfully, changing it only takes a few seconds. Here’s how:
- Open Settings and select System.
-
Select Gestures.
- Tap Press & hold power button.
-
Switch the shortcut to Power menu.
The exact steps may vary slightly depending on which Android phone you’re using, but on most devices, the option is buried somewhere inside the Gestures section.
After you switch it back, pressing and holding the side button will again bring up the standard power menu instead of launching Gemini, which you can use to power off, reboot, or lock down your phone.
I wish Google gave users this choice during the initial phone setup process. A lot of people would probably prefer the traditional power button behavior and may not even realize the setting exists.
Thankfully, when you know where to look, the fix is incredibly simple.
I still use Gemini, just on my terms
This doesn’t mean I’ve stopped using Gemini. I still think Gemini is one of the best AI assistants available on Android right now.
It’s deeply integrated into the operating system and can analyze whatever is on my screen in real time, which makes it genuinely useful. But that doesn’t mean I want it to launch every time I press and hold the power button.
The good thing is that Android offers other ways to access Gemini whenever you need it. You can swipe inward from the corners of the navigation bar to launch Gemini anywhere, and that, in my opinion, is a much more convenient way of triggering it.
This is just one of many small tweaks that can make a Pixel phone feel better than it does out of the box. I’ve changed quite a few settings over the years, and it’s definitely worth exploring some of the others as well.
