How to fix your Google Discover page
The Google Discover page is a powerful yet underutilized feature on millions of Android devices, including popular models like the Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy. Designed to help users uncover personalized content—ranging from news articles and sports scores to weather updates—the Discover page is just a swipe away from the home screen. However, many users remain unaware of its existence or how to optimize it for their interests. Unlike iPhones, which don’t have Google Discover built-in, iOS users can access a similar experience through the Google app.
Accessing Google Discover is straightforward: simply swipe left on the home screen until you reach the furthest left page. Depending on your device, you may encounter variations; for instance, Samsung Galaxy users may initially see a Samsung News screen instead. If that’s the case, users can easily switch back to Google Discover by adjusting their home screen settings. Initially, the content displayed may not be highly relevant, as it is based on Google’s algorithms that consider your browsing history and previous searches. However, as you engage with the content—tapping on stories, liking them, or sharing them—Google will refine your feed to better match your interests.
Customization is a key feature of Google Discover, allowing users to tailor their experience effectively. By tapping the three dots next to any story, users can indicate their preferences, such as seeing less of certain topics or blocking specific websites. Additionally, users can express approval for stories they enjoy by tapping the heart icon or saving articles for later reading. The Discover feed can also be personalized further by adjusting search preferences, including topics of interest and preferred news sources. This level of customization ensures that over time, your Google Discover page evolves into a curated space that reflects your unique interests, making it not just a source of information but a personalized news hub.
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The Google Discover page is just a swipe away from the home screen on millions of Android phones—including on the Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy. But a lot of users aren’t necessarily aware that it’s there, or how they can make the most of it.
As the name suggests, the aim of the page is to help you discover information of interest. It could be news stories, sports scores, or weather forecasts for example, and over time the page should get better at figuring out what you want.
If you’ve never taken a proper look at the Google Discover page, or don’t feel you’ve ever really understood how it works, read on. It’s not something you’ll find built into iPhones, though you can find a similar page inside the Google app for
iOS
.
Navigating to the Google Discover page
Google Discover will serve up a host of news stories for your feed.
Screenshot: Google
All it takes to get to the Discover page on an Android phone is a swipe from left to right on the home screen. If you’ve got several home screens in play, you need to keep swiping until you get to the one that’s furthest to the left—then the next swipe should open up Google Discover for you.
You might find some slight variations depending on the type of Android phone you’ve got. For example, Google Discover is enabled by default on Galaxy phones, but can be replaced by a Samsung News screen. To get Google Discover back, open up Samsung News, then tap the three dots (top right): Choose
Add media page to Home screen
, and you’re able to choose between
Google Discover
and
Samsung News
.
At first, if you’ve just started using the Google Discover feature, the news stories you see might not be all that relevant to you. They’ll be based on a variety of factors and information that Google has access to, which might include your Chrome browsing history and your past Google searches—so these stories should be at least somewhat related to what you’ve previously looked up online.
You can tap on any story to read it within the built-in Google Discover browser: Use the down arrow and cross icons (top left) to minimize or close the browser as needed, and get back to Discover. There are also buttons underneath each story to like the story and to share it with others (you can pick a specific contact or app, or get a link to share).
Keep scrolling down the Discover page to get more and more stories. Up at the top, you get some information widgets that serve up sports scores, weather forecasts, stock prices, sunrise and sunset times, currently playing media, and other content Google thinks you’ll be interested in. At the very top, you can tap
Google
to run a web or AI search.
Customizing the Google Discover page
You can customize Discover and run searches from it too.
Screenshot: Google
Now you know where to find the Google Discover page and how to get around it, you’ll want to start customizing it. To some extent this should happen automatically, as Google learns more about you through your browsing history (if it’s in Chrome on the desktop or mobile), and through your Google searches.
If you tap the three dots next to any story in your Discover feed, you’ll find there are several options you can use to refine the sort of news you’re seeing: You can choose to
See less content like this
, or tell Google that you’re
Not interested in a topic
. It’s also possible to block a particular website from Discover via this pop-up menu.
In the other direction, you can express approval for a story choice by tapping the heart icon underneath it. You also have the option to
Save
a story to look at later (tap on the three dots to find it). To find stories you’ve saved, tap on your Google account picture (top right), then
Saves and collections
.
You’re able to customize the Discover feed in several other ways: Tap your Google account picture (top right), then
Search personalization
, and you can tweak the stories you’ve liked, the topics you’re following (like “soccer” and “tech” for example), and the list of items that you’re not interested in—so if you’ve previously never cared for cat content, but now you love it, you can edit that here. You can also edit your Google search history.
There’s also a way to set your preferred news stories across Google Discover and Google search: You need to run a standard Google search from Discover about a topic in the news, then click the icon next to the right of the Top Stories box. From there you can add preferred sources—so you might want to include
Popular Science
, for example.
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How to fix your Google Discover page
appeared first on
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