# Smartspacer: Upgrading Pixel's At a Glance Without Root > Smartspacer is a customisable Android widget that can replace or upgrade the built in At a Glance on Pixels using Shizuku. It is aimed at Pixel owners and launcher tinkerers who want plugin driven, context aware smartspace content without rooting their phone. **KieronQuinn/Smartspacer** — Smartspacer is a customisable widget for Android, but with a difference: It can upgrade the built in At a Glance on Pixels - without root! - Repository: https://github.com/KieronQuinn/Smartspacer - Stars: 3,545 · Forks: 121 - Language: Kotlin - License: GPL-3.0 - Published: 2026-09-23 · Updated: 2026-09-23 · Language: en - Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/kieronquinn-smartspacer ## What Smartspacer replaces on a Pixel At a Glance on Pixels shows a small, fixed set of information: weather, calendar events, and a few Google supplied cards. It is not extensible by third parties, and on third party launchers it often disappears entirely. Smartspacer addresses both problems. The README describes it as a "Drop-in At a Glance replacement, while keeping existing At a Glance functionality", which means the existing cards keep working while Smartspacer adds its own content on top. The intended audience is narrow but well defined. Pixel owners who want more control over the smartspace area are the primary group. A second group is users of devices that still run the legacy At a Glance implementation, which the README covers with "OEM Smartspace" support. A third group is launcher developers, since the repository ships sdk-client, sdk-core, sdk-plugin and sdk-sample directories alongside the app itself. The widget also works on any launcher as a plain widget, but that path loses the lock screen integration that makes the project interesting. ## How Shizuku and the plugin system fit together The mechanism that makes the Pixel upgrade possible is Shizuku. Shizuku lets an app run privileged API calls through a separate process started over ADB or a rooted shell, without the app itself holding root. The README states that upgrading the built in At a Glance on the lock and home screens "requires Shizuku". That is the central constraint of the project: the headline feature is not available on a stock, unmodified device until the user sets Shizuku up. Content comes from plugins. The README describes an "Extensive plugin system, to pull in data from loads of apps" and an in-app "Plugin Repository" for downloading them. On top of that sits a requirements system, which the README calls "AI-esque" and illustrates with two examples: showing a gym pass at the gym, or a loyalty card and shopping list at the store. So the data flow is plugin to Smartspacer to the smartspace surface, with a condition layer deciding which plugin output is relevant at a given moment. The repository layout supports this split. The proto directory suggests a defined wire format between components, and the separate sdk-core, sdk-plugin and sdk-client modules match the three roles the README names: making a plugin, integrating Smartspacer into a launcher, and consuming it. The SDK documentation lives in the project wiki rather than in the README, so plugin authors have to leave the repository to find it. ## Installing Smartspacer and setting up a first plugin There is no Play Store listing in the README. Distribution is through GitHub releases, with an Obtainium badge offered as the update-friendly route. The README does not document a command line install, so the only concrete steps available are the download links and the app's own configuration flow. Start by installing the APK from the releases page, or add the repository URL to Obtainium so future versions arrive automatically. The release history shows 1.11.3 as the most recent tag, published on 2026-08-29. ```bash # Obtainium deep link from the README, for adding the repo as an update source obtainium://add/https://github.com/KieronQuinn/Smartspacer/ ``` After installing, grant the permissions the app requests and then set up Shizuku if you want the At a Glance upgrade on a Pixel. The README does not give the Shizuku steps, so follow Shizuku's own instructions for your Android version. Once Shizuku is running, Smartspacer can take over the At a Glance slot. Next, open the in-app plugin repository and install a plugin. The README does not name specific plugins or list repository contents, so the selection you see is what the app fetches at runtime. After a plugin is installed, use the requirements system to decide when its content appears. The README's own example is a gym pass shown at the gym, which implies conditions are built from location or context signals rather than manual toggles. For developers, the repository contains a build setup with gradlew and settings.gradle, and the SDK sample is described as containing "examples for both plugins and clients". Building the app from source is a Gradle task, not a documented end user path. ## Where Smartspacer stops being the right tool The Shizuku dependency is the first limitation, and it is not a small one. Shizuku has to be restarted after a reboot on many devices, which means the At a Glance upgrade can silently stop working until the user notices and restarts it. The README does not document what Smartspacer shows when Shizuku is unavailable, and it does not describe a fallback beyond the plain widget mode. Platform coverage is the second. The upgrade path is tied to Pixels, and the legacy path is tied to devices with "OEM Smartspace". A phone that has neither gets the widget and nothing more. The README does not list supported Android versions, which is a real gap for anyone deciding whether to try it. Distribution is the third. GitHub releases and Obtainium mean manual updates and no store review layer. That is a deliberate fit for this kind of system level tool, but it also means users carry the responsibility for checking releases. If you want an app that installs from the Play Store and updates itself with no setup, this is the wrong project. Finally, the requirements system is described as "AI-esque", which is a marketing flavoured phrase rather than a technical one. The README does not explain how conditions are evaluated, so anyone expecting genuine on-device inference should treat that description as unverified. ## Smartspacer versus a plain launcher widget The obvious alternative is not another app but the plain Android widget. Any launcher can host a widget, and Smartspacer itself offers that mode, so the comparison is really between Smartspacer as a widget and Smartspacer as an At a Glance replacement. As a widget it needs no Shizuku and no privileged access. It sits on a home screen panel and shows the same plugin content. What changes with the Shizuku route is placement. At a Glance lives on the lock screen and in the top row of the home screen, in a space the launcher controls. A widget cannot occupy that space on a Pixel. So the difference between the two approaches is not features but location: the same plugin data, rendered in a system owned slot instead of a user placed one. For launcher developers there is a third path. The sdk-client module and the SDK documentation in the wiki describe integrating Smartspacer into a launcher directly, and the README mentions the full screen "Expanded Smartspace" as a possible Google Discover replacement on compatible launchers. That is a deeper integration than either widget mode, and it is the only route that gives a launcher its own smartspace surface. ## Maintenance, licensing and what the repository does not say The last push to the main branch was on 2026-08-29, the same day as the 1.11.3 release. The three most recent releases are 1.11.3 on 2026-08-29, 1.11.2 on 2026-07-23 and 1.11.1 on 2026-06-13, which is a steady cadence across the summer. The repository is not archived. Licensing is split, and the split matters if you plan to build on the code. The README states that the Smartspacer app is under the GNU GPL v3, while the SDK is under Apache 2.0. In practice that means the app carries copyleft obligations while plugin and client code written against the SDK does not, at least as the project describes it. This is a summary of what the README says, not legal advice; read LICENSE and sdk-core/LICENSE before shipping anything. The gaps are worth naming. The README does not document rollback if the At a Glance upgrade misbehaves, does not list supported Android versions, does not enumerate the plugins in the repository, and does not explain how the requirements system evaluates conditions. The FAQ file at the repository root is where the README points for common questions, and the project also runs a Discord server and a Crowdin translation project. Upgrade cost is therefore low in effort but manual in practice: Obtainium can track releases, but nothing in the README suggests an automatic update channel. ## Conclusion Adopt Smartspacer if you own a Pixel or a device with the legacy OEM Smartspace and you want plugin driven, context aware content in the At a Glance slot without rooting. Skip it if you want a Play Store install, if you cannot or will not run Shizuku, or if your device supports neither the Pixel At a Glance hook nor OEM Smartspace. Before installing, read FAQ.md in the repository and confirm that your Android version and launcher are covered there, because the README does not state supported versions or rollback steps. ## FAQ ### How do I install Smartspacer? Download the APK from the GitHub releases page, or add the repository to Obtainium using the deep link in the README so updates arrive automatically. There is no Play Store listing in the README. ### How do I use Smartspacer? Install the app, grant its permissions, and set up Shizuku if you want the At a Glance upgrade on a Pixel. Then install plugins from the in-app plugin repository and use the requirements system to control when their content appears. ### How do I set up Smartspacer? The README states the Pixel At a Glance upgrade requires Shizuku, so that is the main setup step beyond installing the APK. The README does not document the Shizuku procedure itself, so follow Shizuku's own instructions for your device. ### What is the Smartspacer app? Smartspacer is a customisable Android widget that can act as a drop-in At a Glance replacement. On Pixels it can upgrade the built in At a Glance on the lock and home screens without root, using Shizuku. ### Is Smartspacer safe? The README does not make a safety claim, and the app is distributed as an APK from GitHub releases rather than a store. What it does say is that the Pixel At a Glance upgrade needs Shizuku, which runs privileged calls through a separate process rather than granting the app root. ### What is a Smartspacer alternative? The README does not name alternatives. The closest thing inside the project is Smartspacer's own widget mode, which works on any launcher and needs no Shizuku, but it cannot occupy the At a Glance slot the way the Pixel integration does. ## Sources - [Issues](https://github.com/KieronQuinn/Smartspacer/issues) - [KieronQuinn/Smartspacer on GitHub](https://github.com/KieronQuinn/Smartspacer) - [License: GPL-3.0](https://github.com/KieronQuinn/Smartspacer/blob/main/LICENSE) - [README](https://github.com/KieronQuinn/Smartspacer/blob/main/README.md) - [Releases](https://github.com/KieronQuinn/Smartspacer/releases) --- Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/kieronquinn-smartspacer