The Pixel Phone app is getting ready for the Christmas and New Year holidays with some new audio emoji. Audio emoji allows you to add sound effects to your Pixel-to-Pixel phone calls and appears on your Pixel’s display when you’re making a phone call to another Pixel user with a compatible model using your Pixel phone. The app now features a Christmas Tree audio emoji replacing the Party Popper. The animation that accompanies the change shows jingle bells and Santa’s sleigh with reindeer. At the same time, the crying face audio emoji has been replaced temporarily by a Fireworks audio emoji with a rocket blasting off.
The Christmas and New Year audio emoji is available with version 156 of the Pixel Phone app. You can install the latest version of the app by downloading it from the Google Play Store or wait for the update to hit your phone. Besides the seasonal changes to the Pixel Phone app, it appears that something useful is being added with the addition of a video call button in the top right corner of the display. It is the same exact icon previously used for video calls, but it is now located in a quicker and easier-to-find location.
Currently, the video call icon can be found by tapping the More button. You also might see it on a suggestion chip or when tapping on a name from your contacts list. Tapping on the icon will start a Google Meet session.
To figure out which version of the Pixel Phone app your Pixel is running, go to Settings > Apps > See all XXX apps. Scroll down to Phone and tap on it. That opens the App info page for the Pixel Phone app. Scroll to the very bottom of the page and you will see the version number you’re currently running. For example, my Pixel 6 Pro running Android 15 QPR2 Beta 1 has version 155 of the Phone app which means that it does not yet have the new holiday audio emoji nor the new location for the video call icon.
As previously noted, for the audio emoji to be available, both you and the person on the other end of the call have to be using compatible Pixel models. The feature is available on the Pixel 6, Pixel 6 Pro, and later Pixel handsets.
