The Google Pixel AI-powered voicemail and call screening feature, Take A Message, may be coming to non-Pixel phones in the future, according to hints spotted deep in the Phone app.
Read on for more, and don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter for instant deal updates.
Google Pixel AI-Powered Voicemail Feature Coming To Millions Of Android Phones
The Google Pixel-exclusive Take A Message voicemail feature, which transcribes voicemails in real time by answering missed or declined calls (with spam calls filtered out), could make its way to millions of non-Pixel Android phones.
A code snippet spotted by Android Authority in the Phone app is titled “enabledBeeslyV2NonPixel.” “Beesly” is the codename for the “Take A Message” feature, which is accompanied by “enabled” and “non Pixel.” That is a big hint that the feature will be coming to more Android phones at some point in the future.
It’s not clear which phones will make the cut, but since Take A Message works on the 2021 Google Pixel 6 series and above, it likely doesn’t need advanced hardware to run, as we’ve seen with other AI tools that have been backported to older phones.
Users of mid-range and flagship handsets from Samsung, Motorola, Honor, OnePlus, and others could see Take A Message make its way to their phones at some point in the future.
It also looks like Google plans to expand versions of the voicemail feature to several countries. Android phone users in Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Japan will get the full experience with both audio and transcript support.
Meanwhile, an audio-only version of the feature is being tested for a long list of countries, including Mexico, Austria, Belgium, Poland, Portugal, and Singapore, among others. There’s also a specific mention in the code for the Indian market.
How To Use Google Pixel Take A Message On Your Android Phone
If you’re a Google Pixel owner and this is the first time you’ve heard of the feature, you can enable it by heading to the Phone app, tapping More > Settings > Take A Message. To view the transcripts of recorded voicemails, head to recent missed or declined calls in the Phone app; calls with transcripts will have a note icon next to them.
Take A Message landed alongside a slew of new AI-powered call screening features that launched with the Google Pixel 10. These include Call Notes, which provides a summary of your conversations so you don’t have to take notes manually, and an upgraded Scam Detection that identifies suspicious callers in real-time.
It was initially thought that Take A Message would be a Google Pixel 10 exclusive, but it became clear later that Google would make it available to several older Pixel devices. Now, it looks like the feature will be expanded even further afield. That is a major shift in itself because it shows that the search company wants to spread its Google Pixel AI services beyond its own hardware, potentially enticing more people into its ecosystem by demonstrating what its tech can do. The company likely thinks that by giving millions of Android users a flavor of what exclusive Google Pixel features feel like, they might migrate over to Google hardware for their next upgrade.
