Android 14 just revived a useful Bluetooth shortcut from 8.0 Oreo

Most Android updates add features, but Google, in its infinite wisdom, sometimes takes away useful functionality when it issues an OS upgrade — whether that’s to usher in a new design philosophy or just to tidy up the AOSP code base is another question. We’ll give Google the benefit of the doubt and assume the former when it comes to why the company decided to axe the mini-menus that used to appear when you tapped the “Bluetooth” or “Wi-Fi” label under the associated Quick Settings tile. This functionality was removed with Android 9.0 Pie, but it’s finally back with the Android 14 QPR2 Beta 3 update that just dropped today.

The new popup works a little differently than the old mini-menu. In the 8.0 Oreo days, tapping the word “Bluetooth” would expand the tile to reveal settings and shortcuts within the Quick Settings panel, whereas the Android 14 feature works when you tap the Bluetooth toggle itself, and the menu appears as a popup. Here, you can toggle the Bluetooth radio on or off, tap a previously paired device to connect, or hit the adjacent gear icon to access its settings. You can even quickly pair a new accessory with a shortcut at the bottom of this interface.

Mishaal Rahman was first to report the change going live earlier today, with some help from Nail Sadykov of the Google News Telegram channel. In fact, Rahman originally reported that Google had laid the groundwork to revive this shortcut in an article on Android Police last month.

On a related note, the shortcut to the Clock app in Quick Settings that had been removed in earlier builds of Android 14 is functional again in QPR2 Beta 3 — just tap the time in the top-left corner of the expanded notification shade, and you’ll jump straight to the Alarms tab in Google Clock. Sadly, the same can’t be said for the old battery menu shortcut that was once accessible by tapping the percentage towards the top-right of the Quick Settings menu.

Android 14 QPR2, or Quarterly Platform Release 2, is currently in beta testing, where it has been since early November. However, we expect this new version to go live on the public channel in less than two months as the March 2024 Pixel Feature Drop. As usual, this release will focus on adding user-facing functionality, and we’ve already caught wind of quite a few of these features. Things like built-in phishing protection, a Circle to Search feature on Pixel phones, and the per-app screen recorder are safe bets. However, the new Private Space feature we discovered in QPR2 might not be ready in time for the March Feature Drop, and instead could be coming with Android 15 later this year.