GoKawiilShimul Sood / Android Authority
I’ve only had the Pixel 11 Pro XL for a few days, and somehow that’s still been enough time for it to remind me why I’ve had trust issues with Pixels all year. I really do try to give these phones a fair shot. I look for the good stuff, I get excited about the new features, and every time, I hope this will finally be the Pixel that doesn’t make me question my life choices a few days in.
This time, HiLight is doing the damage. And the annoying part is that I actually love the idea. It reminds me of the notification LEDs we used to have back in the day. I was quite excited to play around with it on my Pixel 11 Pro XL because, honestly, I’ve missed having something like this on a phone. Then I actually tried using HiLight.
What should have been a simple bit of customization turned into a confusing mess of menus, favorite contacts, disappearing options, and me repeatedly wondering whether I was doing something wrong. Spoiler: I wasn’t. HiLight is a great idea, but right now it is an absolute mess.
Have you tried HiLight on your Pixel 11 Pro? 19 votes Yes, and it works great for me. 42 % Yes, but setting it up was a mess. 11 % It's not working for me. 21 % I've given up on Pixels entirely. 26 %
Why am I jumping through hoops for a color?
Shimul Sood / Android Authority
First and foremost, my gripe with HiLight is simple: why is something this basic so complicated? I went in thinking I’d spend a couple of minutes assigning different colors to my friends and family. Instead, Google somehow turned it into a treasure hunt.
Naturally, I started in the Settings app. That’s where HiLight lives, and on my Pixel 11 Pro XL, it was already enabled by default. So far, so good. I assumed I’d open it, see my contacts, pick the people I wanted, choose their colors, and be done. That would make sense, right? Well, apparently not.
It works, sure, but why am I bouncing between two apps for something this simple?
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