The first major update of the Android 16 system brought back the utility of the Quick Settings panel thanks to the ability to split large “pill” elements in half and place them in the same space, thus opening up more room for additional shortcuts. Time Quick Settings again becomes useful for quick actions, including managing smart home devices.
Google Home offers a basic Quick Settings box, but it just opens a menu with your favorite devices, which is slow and doesn’t solve the need for individual controls. The solution is the Home Assistant platform, an open and powerful “smart home” system, which offers as many as 40 customizable Quick Settings shortcuts. Each of them can activate a scene, perform an automatic action or directly control a device.
Android 16 brings command keys in small fields, ideal for smart home shortcuts.
Rita El Khoury / Android AuthorityFirst, two shortcuts were added for the Ikea Idasen table: one for sitting, the other for standing. Home Assistant allows each button to be named, given a subtitle, an icon and an assigned action. Once the system is set up, the shortcuts work instantly and eliminate the need to open apps or manually adjust the desk height.
This approach was then extended to other smart devices: scenes for coming and going from home, starting Roborock cleaning in the bathroom, controlling the curtains, turning off the Samsung Frame Pro TV and other frequent actions. Android 16, thanks to the smaller Quick Settings fields, allows organizing more of these controls on one or two pages.
Google Home still doesn’t offer the ability to create individual Quick Settings controls for each smart feature, which leaves a gap in everyday use. Home Assistant, although more complicated to set up, offers exactly what is missing, direct access to the most useful smart devices without waiting and additional steps, writes Android Authority.