Tech News
← Back to articles

Turn off this Pixel feature now - it could be leaking your background audio

read original related products more articles

Kerry Wan/ZDNET

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.

ZDNET's key takeaways

A new bug is affecting some older Pixel phones.

The bug sends background audio to a caller leaving a message.

You can turn off Take A Message for now.

If you have a Pixel phone, there's a new bug you'll want to be aware of -- partly because it might be sending your private audio to other people, and partly because you can turn off the affected feature.

Last fall, Google debuted a new feature called Take A Message for every Pixel phone from the model 4 onward. The feature functions mostly like voicemail. When you miss or decline a call, the caller is prompted to leave a message, and you'll see a transcript of what they said in your call history along with a play button to hear the actual audio. There's an answer button available if you want to pick up the call at any time.

Also: I upgraded my Google Pixel phone's performance by adjusting these 10 settings

... continue reading