Google disables Take a Message on older Pixel phones amid audio leaks

Google is disabling some features of the Phone app on older Pixel devices after acknowledging a bug that inadvertently leaked audio to callers. The issue is specifically related to the Take a Message feature launched last year, which automatically answers and transcribes voice messages when you miss a call, with a handful of Pixel 4 and 5 owners reporting that their microphones were activating when callers left messages.

“We have investigated this issue, which we have confirmed affects a very small subset of Pixel 4 and 5 devices in very specific and rare circumstances,” Google community manager Siri Tejaswini said on a support page. “Out of an abundance of caution, we are disabling the Take a Message and Next-Gen Call Screening features on these devices.”

One Reddit user who encountered the bug said callers weren’t hearing their usual greeting and “could hear me/room sounds while leaving a message.” The user describes how the microphone privacy indicator in the upper right corner of their phone screen was triggered after they missed a call and activated the Take Message option. “It was like I picked up the phone, except I didn’t do anything. It just passively started recording me and sending audio to the caller.”

We asked Google if these features would be permanently removed from the Pixel 4 and 5 handsets, or if they would be restored in the future. For now, Tejaswini says affected Pixel owners “will still be able to use manual and automatic call screening or their carrier’s voicemail.”