Here’s What’s New in Google’s March Pixel Drop

It’s a busy month for Google. The company launched its latest phone, the Pixel 10a; rolled out live location sharing in Google Messages, launched Nano Banana 2, and released a security update that fixes 129 Android vulnerabilities. The company is now launching its latest Pixel Drop, this time for March, introducing a number of features and changes for Pixel phones and watches. Here are the new features.

Google now allows you to personalize your Calling Card on Android

iOS and Android now have full-screen contact pages that appear when people call you, but the two platforms handled this differently. When iOS rolled it out, it let you customize the appearance of your “Contact View” when calling people. But Android, on the other hand, decided that you needed to control how other people’s “calling cards” appeared when they called you. Now Android is changing things up to match iOS’ approach. The latest Pixel Drop now allows you to customize your own personal business card.

Airlines will soon be able to help you find your lost luggage

Here’s another Android feature picked up by Apple: if you have a Find Hub tracker, you can share its location with airlines to help locate lost luggage. Currently, only 10 airlines worldwide support this sharing feature, so it’s a bit more limited than Apple’s integration, but hopefully this list will grow soon.

Pixel users love the Now Playing widget. It can passively identify songs in the wild, all without needing the Internet to do so. With the Pixel Drop in March, the widget now has its own app. Once you install the app on your Pixel, you’ll find the widget’s history transfers seamlessly, so you can see all the songs it has identified.

Gemini can manage tasks on your behalf

The current obsession in the world of AI is to transform passive assistants into agent assistants. Or, in other words, asking AI robots to perform tasks on our behalf. Google says Gemini can now do this, as a beta feature of the Gemini app. You can press and hold the power button and ask Gemini to do things for you, like plan your grocery list, book an Uber, or order your usual takeout. This is currently only available on the Pixel 10 series.

Circle to Search now identifies entire outfits

Circle to Search lets you, well, circle to search. When you see something on your phone, you can simply draw a circle around it to search for it. This is a fairly intuitive feature, which gets a slight upgrade with the latest version of Pixel. Now, Google says you can circle the outfits you see on your Pixel 10 to find “every element of the look.” Let’s say you’re watching a movie and you like a character’s style. You can use Circle to Search to circle the outfit, and Google will split each piece into a “Find the Look” search. You could see how much coats, shoes, hats and more cost individually and decide whether to buy part or all of the outfit. Google didn’t miss the opportunity to tie this into its “Try It On” feature, which allows you to virtually try on outfits online.

Magic Cue can recommend restaurants with Gemini

Magic Cue is a contextual AI feature that offers suggestions based on what you do on your Pixel. For example, as part of this Pixel Drop, Magic Cue can now recommend restaurants based on conversations with friends. If a contact suggests finding a downtown restaurant with vegan options, Magic Cue may offer a “Find Restaurants” pop-up. Tap on it and Gemini will offer a few options that match these descriptions. (Of course, this is generative AI, so the feature could skew some suggestions, or even potentially invent restaurants entirely.)

At a Glance receives new updates

The Pixel’s “At a glance” feature allows you to track new data points. Google says At a Glance can now tell you your best route home, accounting for transportation delays, track sports scores and give updates on your financial portfolio. These updates appear passively on the home screen, so you don’t need to unlock your phone to check these data points.

Google brings AI art styles to the home screen

Android has always made it easy to customize the style of your home screen, including your app icons. But the latest Pixel Drop adds five new AI-generated art styles to generate custom icons. Google says these options can help make your home screen more like “you,” but that might not apply if you’re not a fan of AI art.

Your Pixel Watch can now notify you if you walk away from your phone

If you have both a Pixel phone and a Pixel Watch, your wearable device can alert you when you leave your phone behind. Google says you’ll receive an “instant alert” if you walk away from your phone, and your phone will lock as soon as you’re out of range. (Google doesn’t specify this, but I’m assuming it’s Bluetooth range, which is typically 30 feet.) This feature is available on Pixel 8 and later, as well as Pixel Watch 2 and later.

Pixel gets a desktop mode

These days, smartphones are essentially mini-computers, so why shouldn’t your phone turn into a desktop computer? Google is rolling out such a feature with this Pixel Drop, allowing users to connect their Pixel 8 or newer to an external monitor. You’re still using Android, but the feature lets you run multiple apps side-by-side, like a traditional computing experience. It follows a similar feature from Samsung (DeX) that the company has offered for years. Additionally, if you own a Pixel tablet, you can now run multiple apps in free-form windows, similar to how Apple handles window management in iPadOS.

Connect your camera to your Pixel phone

Pixels have been known for their cameras for years. But Google’s latest Pixel Drop actually lets you connect an external camera to your Pixel, so you can get different angles for live streaming.

These are the small changes made to the latest Pixel Drop

Google has added many changes to this Pixel Drop, some smaller than others. For example, a new display color filtering mode softens “high-intensity” hues and saturated colors, if you want a more muted look. Guided Frame, the Android feature that guides users in taking photos, now offers more languages, making it more accessible. The Journal app also has new AI features to make it easier to write about your feelings and experiences. The Pixel Watch 3 will also benefit from the Pixel Watch 4’s one-handed gestures, which let you pinch twice or twist your wrist to perform actions like answering calls and pausing music.