Google disables Take a Message on some Pixel phones to protect your privacy

Most recent Pixel features have been welcome additions, but one meant to handle missed calls has instead caused a bit of a privacy snafu. Over the past few months, some users reported that callers could hear background audio during missed calls, rather than being cleanly prompted to leave a message. Google has now confirmed the issue and says it’s disabling Take a Message on the affected devices.

In a post on its support forums, Siri Tejaswini, a Google community manager, said the company investigated the reports and confirmed they affect “a very small subset” of Pixel 4 and Pixel 5 devices under “very specific and rare circumstances.” Out of caution, Google is disabling Take a Message and its next-generation Call Screen features on those phones.

As we learned last week, the problem appears to be tied specifically to Take a Message rather than carrier voicemail. In rare cases, the feature didn’t fully isolate the call, allowing callers to hear audio from the phone owner’s surroundings instead of being cleanly separated from the device. That has obvious privacy implications if your caller can hear your side of the line without you having picked up.

Take a Message launched with the Pixel 10 series as a way to surface short summaries of missed calls directly in the Phone app. The feature uses Google’s Phone app to capture a short message, generate a real-time transcript, and surface it directly in your call history. It was designed to reduce reliance on traditional voicemail, but the recent reports suggest it doesn’t always work as intended.

Google says affected users won’t lose call screening entirely. Manual and automatic Call Screen options will continue to work, and callers can still be sent to standard carrier voicemail. The company hasn’t shared how many devices are impacted, or when Take a Message could return to Pixel 4 and 5 phones. We’ll be keeping an eye out for any developments.