Remove the Google Search Bar: Quick Tips for a Cleaner Home Screen

Most Android phones come with the Google Search bar placed on the home screen. While convenient, it can take up valuable space. You can maximize your home screen by removing or adjusting the widget. Here’s a quick guide on how to disable it from your Android device in just a few taps.

Many Android phones come with the Google Search bar installed on the home screen by default. However, if you rarely use it, this feature can feel more like a space-waster, preventing you from adding additional app shortcuts and widgets. Disabling the Google Search bar can create a cleaner home screen, allowing your wallpaper to shine.

Even without the Search bar, you can still perform searches quickly using gestures or shortcuts, such as Google Assistant or alternative search tools.

On Google’s phones and many stock Android devices, removing the Google Search bar from the home screen requires either a custom ROM or an app launcher, such as Nova. However, on some devices running stock Android, like Sony Xperia or HMD models, removing the search widget is directly supported.

Google Pixel 8a

If you have a Sony Xperia device, you can remove the Google Search bar, which is integrated with Sony's Quick Search feature, directly from the home screen settings. Here’s how:

For Samsung Galaxy devices running One UI, removing the Google Search bar is straightforward:

If you want the opposite and have the search bar reinstated on the home screen, you can retrieve it by adding a widget. Follow the steps:

Samsung Galaxy A55

Similarly, removing the search bar on Xiaomi phones and tablets running on HyperOS and MIUI is pretty basic.

OnePlus and Oppo Android devices run on the same core skinned version of Android, meaning the process of removing the Google Search bar from their home screens should be similar.

OnePlus 12

Motorola's Android devices run on My UX, a streamlined version of stock Android that allows you to customize or remove the Google Search bar from the home screen.

Motorola Razr+ (2023)

On EMUI or MagicUI phones, the steps are pretty much the same as the ones above:

There's more than one way to solve a problem like Google Search, and our readers have chimed in with a few helpful techniques in the comments section. We've now included one in the main section of the article for your convenience.

Courtesy of Kenneth Cyr, here's a simple method that could work for many:

Another simple way to get rid of the Google Search bar is to simply find yourself a custom launcher, such as Nova Launcher. These can completely customize your Android device to look and work the way you want it to, and you can even get some launchers for free.

Third-party custom launchers are brilliant things, and Nova isn't the only one out there. We’ve put together a comprehensive guide to the best Android launchers available, and we’re pretty sure at least one of them will excite and delight you.

It should be noted that installing a custom launcher is the only way to get rid of the Google Search bar on Google's own Pixel phones and other brands that use a stock Android launcher.

Have you taken Google Search off your home screen? Tell us about it in the comments!