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

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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. 

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Here’s where the recent bug, first spotted by 9to5Google, comes into play. If callers choose to leave a message, they may hear background audio from your phone. It’s like you tapped the answer button for a two-way call, but you can’t hear the other person. 

When a Pixel 5 user reported the issue on Reddit a few months ago, several other users said it had happened to them. Most problems seem to be with older devices, but at least one Pixel 10 user reported it.

Users who noticed the issue were able to replicate it to verify the problem. I tried to replicate the bug on my own Pixel 9 Pro XL, my wife’s Pixel 9a, and an older 6a, but couldn’t.

How to turn off ‘Take A Message’

The bug appears fairly limited at this time and mostly affects older phones. Still, if you’d like to be on the safe side, you can turn the feature off. Open your phone app, tap More, and then Settings. From there, look for Take A Message, then toggle it off.

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I’ve reached out to Google for more details.