Weird bug on Pixel’s Phone app might be leaking your audio during voicemail

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Credit: Joe Maring / Android Authority


TL;DR

• Google’s “Take a Message” feature on Pixel phones is not functioning as intended.
• Instead of recording the caller’s message as a voicemail, it may allow them to hear you in the background.
• The bug appears to affect all supported Pixel phones, starting with the Pixel 4.

If you have no time to go through all your voicemails, Google’s “Take a Message” feature for Pixel devices can be really useful. If you miss or decline a call, Take a Message can automatically spin into action, informing the caller that you’re unavailable and asking them to record a message. While it sounds like voicemail, the feature uses AI to transcribe the message and automatically store it in your Pixel’s call history, where you can revisit it later. While Take a Message was initially launched with the Pixel 10 series, Google promptly made it available on older devices as well. While very useful in theory, it has reportedly been malfunctioning, letting callers hear you instead of recording their message.

Several users have highlighted this issue with Take a Message on their Pixel phones over the last few months. These reports, spotted by 9to5Google, are not limited to any specific model and plague a range of devices, from the oldest supported Pixel 4 series to the newest Pixel 10. One of the oldest reports about the issue on the Pixel 5 dates back several months. Here, the poster noted how their family could hear their wife even while the voicemail was supposedly being recorded. While they did not immediately suspect Take a Message, a few replies to the post suggest it is a possibility.




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