WATCH THE VIDEO HERE Google drops updates for its own Pixel phones, which are referred to as “Pixel Feature Drops,” and offers some new features and sometimes some enhancements. This used to be a quarterly update, but it’s apparently much more frequent now. Not just for new phones but also for old ones. Which is really nice of Google to do. A lot of smartphone makers want you to buy a new phone to get these features. Here, we’re going to go over every single new feature that comes in these Pixel Feature Drops. So you can see what’s new and take advantage of these new features. Google started the Pixel Feature Drop a few years ago as a way to roll out some new features about four times a year without making everyone wait on a new version of Android – which really only comes once a year now. It was likely done to get people to update their phones more often instead of skipping some of these monthly security updates. The first feature drop for Pixel came back in December 2019, and they’ve been going strong ever since. These Feature Drops are rolled into the security updates, so it looks like a larger update than it actually is. Which can be a good thing. This is a list of the current Pixel devices that are eligible to get these updates: Older devices are no longer receiving security updates or Android updates, and thus won’t get this feature drop, unfortunately. These are quarterly updates from Google. So they released about once every three months. Google typically releases them in March, June, September, and December of each year. Sometimes, these may get moved around due to features not getting ready and such. But those are the months they aim for. Typically, the first Monday of those months (March, June, September, and December) is when you can expect a Feature Drop. Update: These are no longer quarterly; Google instead releases them “when they are ready.” In the first quarter of 2024, Google released a feature drop each month. I wouldn’t expect that to continue, however. Google has announced the October 2024 Feature Drop, which coincides with the Android 15 update. Both of these were announced on October 15, 2024, and started rolling out shortly thereafter. Here’s what’s new for Pixel devices with this Pixel Feature Drop. Google has expanded Night Sight support to now work in the Instagram app. So when you use the Instagram camera, you’ll get great nighttime photos, even without using the flash. This is going to be available globally on the Pixel 6 and newer – except for the Pixel a-series devices. Use your favorite waterproof case to capture your favorite under-the-sea moments. This includes snorkeling and swimming, as Google has improved underwater photography and video recording that makes colors look richer and more accurate. Theft Protection is a suite of features that will protect your device, in case it does get stolen. This now uses Google AI to sense if someone snatches your phone from your hand and tries to run, bike or drive away and automatically locks your phone screen. You can also use Remote Lock to quickly lock your phone with just your phone number and a quick security challenge using any device to give you more time to recover your accounts. Google debuted Audio Magic Eraser at its Pixel launch event in August, and now it’s rolling out to more Pixel devices. It’s available globally on the Pixel 8 series, and in limited markets on the Pixel 9 series. Audio Magic Eraser will let you turn up or down separate sounds and voices in your videos, making voices crystal clear, and eliminating background noise. It works scarily well. Temperature Sensing with Pixel just got better. Now, there’s a new viewfinder in the Temperature app that lets you get a live reading of objects that you are sensing. You can capture and save measurements to recent results. The new Pixel Weather app that debuted on the Pixel 9 series back in August is now rolling out to all Pixel devices. That’s going to be Pixel 6 and newer – including Pixel Tablet. The Next-Gen Call Screen that Google has included on Pixels for a while now, is now expanding to the UK and Japan, for Pixel 6 and newer. This will give users extra layers of privacy and help with saving time on potentially unwanted calls. Gemini Live is coming to more Pixel devices with this update, rolling out to the Pixel 6 and newer in France, Germany, Brazil, India, Spain and Latin America. This essentially lets you talk to Gemini like you would Google Assistant. Now you can use Gemini for help finding something you saved in Pixel Screenshots, from wherever you are on your phone. Just say “Hey Google, use Screenshots to find the brand of sneakers I saved”. Moving onto the Pixel Watch, it’s getting the new Contacts App. Making it easier to get to your most frequent contacts with the Individual Contact Tile on all three generations of Pixel Watch. This tile will let you pick which content to prominently display and use quick actions to call, message or open the contact for more details. Pixel Watch also gets Emoji email reactions, allowing you to send and view select emoji reactions to Gmail notifications from the app directly on your Pixel Watch. Finally, Loss of Pulse Detection is rolling out to the Pixel Watch 3 in Belgium, Italy, and Spain. This new feature is a first-to-market one that will identify when someone’s heart suddenly stops beating due to conditions such as cardiac arrest, poisoning, or respiratory arrest and then notify emergency services for help. All Pixel Buds models will be getting Gemini. You can talk to Gemini from your earbuds and ask it for directions and info from your emails, or you can go live with Gemini to brainstorm out loud. Now your Pixel devices will work together to make it easier to manage notifications. So when you dismiss a notification on one device, it will then disappear from your other devices. You will need to enable this feature in the settings and be connected to WiFi for this to work. For the June Pixel Feature Drop, Google is bringing in a whole host of new features for the Pixel phones, watches, and tablets. Google heard the backlash and is bringing Gemini to the Pixel 8 and Pixel 8a as a developer option with this feature drop. The reason for this is that Google doesn’t feel like the performance is on par to make it a standout feature. So if you really want to use it, you can. After many years, Google is finally adding Display Port support to the Pixel. This is going to allow you to plug in your phone to a second monitor and display it, over the phone’s USB-C port. It’s a simple feature, and also one that many likely won’t use, but it is here. Ever wondered what that unknown number was that called you? Now, you can do a reverse phone number lookup straight from the Phone app. It really doesn’t get any simpler than that. And you can tell if you need to call them back or continue ignoring them. Google’s very impressive Recorder app is also getting a new summarize feature, which is able to provide detailed summaries for your recordings, and even identify different speakers. Another popular feature that Android users have been waiting for: Find My Device now works when your phone is powered off. This is only available for Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro, however. With this update to the Pixel ecosystem, the Pixel Watch and Pixel Watch 2 are getting Car Crash Detection and Bicycle Fall Detection. This feature is going to make sure that the user is okay and call emergency services and emergency contacts if needed. Google says that Fall Detection has also been updated to better detect falls from bicycles. Pixel Watch is also going to be able to make payments from PayPal. And it’s getting the Google Home app finally. Which does include a new Wear OS tile, and watch face complications. With the Pixel Tablet, Google says that users will now get more detailed doorbell notifications, including a snapshot of who is at your front door. This, however, does only work when the tablet is docked in hub mode. Google is yet again rolling out another Feature Drop this month, which actually includes quite a few new features. Here’s every single new feature. Instagram will now support 10-bit HDR video and Ultra HDR Photos from the Pixel 8 series. Ultra HDR Photos is a new picture format that was introduced in Android 14 last year, and it essentially is able to “store more information about the intensity of light, resulting in more detailed highlights and shadows, and more intense colors.” Next Gen Call Screen is also getting some improvements. For instance, if you are call screening and the caller doesn’t respond, there’s a new “hello” chip that will appear, and you can tap on that to get the call started. Google is also going to tell the caller to wait a bit longer if you’re not available right now. That’s not all that’s coming to the Pixel this time around. Here are a few more features for the Pixel portfolio: Google shocked us by dropping a new Feature Drop for the Pixels in late January – typically these were every three months and this was expected in March. But this Pixel Feature Drop did bring in some really nice features to the Pixel series. This debuted on the Galaxy S24 Ultra a few weeks earlier, and it’s a super useful feature. Essentially, with Circle to Search, you’re able to long-press on the gesture bar or home button and then circle what you want to search. Whether that’s text, a picture, or something specific in the picture, it can do it all, and it’s powered by Google. This is done without even leaving the app you’re currently in. Google is adding Magic Compose to the Pixel 8 series this time around, which will let you use AI (Google Gemini, actually) to rewrite your texts, social media messages, and much more. It’s very similar to Chat Assist on the Galaxy S24 series. On the Pixel 8 Pro, Google added a thermometer to the back. Which seemed cool but turned out to be more of a gimmick. Well, with this feature drop, it’s much more of a feature than a gimmick. It can now be used to take the temperature of humans, and you can save the readings to your Fitbit profile as well. The last major feature coming in this update is Photomoji, which is coming to the Pixel 3a and later. Basically, it lets you transform your favorite photos into reactions with the help of on-device Google AI. The September Pixel Feature Drop got delayed a month, along with Android 14, and launched in October. Along with Android 14, it does bring a good amount of new features to the Pixel. Here’s what’s new this month. Google is rolling out a new camera app with the Pixel Feature Drop this month. The biggest change is that there is now a toggle at the bottom to switch from photo to video. You’ll also get easy access to modes like Night Sight, Portrait and Slow Motion. This seems like a good way to make it easier to switch modes, without making the camera app unintuitive. But it will take some time to get used to. Also part of this update this month, there’s new custom clock and wallpaper collections. You will be able to tweak your lock screen and use some different clocks there. Which is a nice change. This is only for the Pixel Fold. It was announced back at Google I/O in May, but this feature will let you interact with someone that speaks another language, all on your Pixel Fold. It works on both screens simultaneously. So you can type something on the larger screen and show the person the translated sentence(s) on the other side. It’s really neat and will be fun to play around with. With this feature drop, Google is adding a new charging notification that will appear if there is an issue with the charging accessory, cable or wall adapter. So you won’t just plug in your phone and leave it, only to find out it didn’t charge, or barely charged. For the June 2023 feature drop, the update is actually fairly small. This makes sense, as the next Feature Drop will coincide with the stable version of Android 14 dropping. So here’s what’s new for June 2023. With this feature drop, Google is rolling out Cinematic Wallpapers. According to Google, this is being powered by Google AI, and allows the Pixel to transform 2D wallpaper photos into dynamic 3D scenes. Giving you a pretty magical look for your home screen and lock screen. Google is also rolling out a slew of Fitbit features with this feature drop. Including Daily Readiness onto your Fitbit. It was previously only available in the Fitbit app, now it’s available on your wrist. Daily Readiness helps you see how ready you are for the day, and for doing any type of workout. First announced at the Pixel 7 event last October, Recorder Speaker Labels are finally rolling out in this Feature Drop. That’s going to make it easier to export your recordings to Google Drive. As it is able to label who is speaking and when. For the Pixel 7 Pro only, Macro Focus Video is rolling out. This allows you to use the macro focus feature while you are recording video as well. There’s a few more features coming in this feature drop, here’s the full changelog: Pixel Phones Pixel Watch Expanding existing features to more regions, languages and devices This time around, the feature drop is mostly aimed at older Pixel devices. Bringing Pixel 7 features to older devices. Which is definitely nice to see from Google. But here’s what’s new. Google has improved and added some new algorithms to the Tensor chip, which has made Night Sight faster on the Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro. So you’re able to get low-light photos a whole lot faster now. Magic Eraser debuted on the Pixel 6 in 2021, but now it is moving to older Pixels. If you have a Pixel 4a or later, you’ll be able to take advantage of Magic Eraser. Meaning that more people will be able to get rid of those photo bombers in your photos. As well as other distractions on your photos. Google is also expanding Direct My Call+ to older Pixels, bringing it to the Pixel 4a or later. So now more Pixel users will be able to see call menu options before they’ve even been spoken to them. Health Connect is an app that Google created last year, and was in beta for quite some time. Now it’s out of beta and available on Pixel devices. So you can use Health Connect to sync your health and fitness data across platforms. So far, this works with Fitbit and Samsung Health. So you can switch from the Pixel Watch to the Galaxy Watch 5 without losing any data. The December 2022 Pixel Feature Drop was released on Monday, December 5, 2022. And it’s the first big feature drop since the Pixel 7 series was released in October. So quite a few features here were already announced in October as “coming soon”. Announced in October with the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, the VPN by Google One is now rolling out to all those users in the December 2022 update. This is a free feature, which you previously, needed to subscribe to Google One and be paying for at least 2TB to be able to enjoy. For Pixel 7 users, this feature is going to be free for the next five years. It’ll likely last longer than your Pixel 7, to be quite honest. Clear Calling is another feature that was announced in October and will remain exclusive to the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro, at least for now. But basically, this feature is able to reduce the background noise and enhance the sound of the voice. So that others’ are able to hear you better in loud environments like a bar or club. The demos we experienced of this feature at the Made by Google event in October were pretty incredible. So we’re expecting this to be mind blowing. The last feature in this feature drop which is limited to the new Pixel 7 series is, Recorder Speaker Labels. The Recorder app debuted a few years ago on the Pixel 4 and has been pretty incredible. But Google continues to improve it, and now, it can label individual speakers that are being recorded. It can also add in line breaks, making it easier to follow along. This feature won’t be fully available until January 2023, but Spatial Audio is coming to the Pixel Buds Pro (only). Spatial Audio will allow you to feel more immersed when listening to movies and shows through your Pixel Buds Pro. It’s a feature that Apple has had for quite some time, and is now finally coming over to Android. Security and privacy is always a big deal for Google, and it is continuing to provide updates to the new unified hub for security and privacy settings in this new unified hub. It includes some new action cards that notify you of any safety risks and provide easy steps to enhance your privacy and security. As always, Google is including some new wallpapers with this update. So you’ll have a refresh in the Curated Culture section of the Wallpaper app. There are a few new wallpapers here to help celebrate International Day of People with Disabilities. Google is finally rolling out the new Fitbit Sleep Profile that was announced back in November. This is going to help you get deeper sleep insights through Fitbit’s Premium Sleep Profile feature, on your Google Pixel Watch. It provides users with a monthly sleep animal and longitudinal analysis of your sleep. This is going to help you find ways to improve your sleep over time. If you wore your Watch to bed for 14 nights in November, you will see your animal today. Google is also bringing in a few new Wear OS tiles for the Pixel Watch. These include a new Contacts Tile, as well as an additional Weather Tile. This new Weather Tile will give you easy access to see things like when is Sunset or Sunrise, among other things. The Contacts Tile will give you quick access to calling and/or texting your favorite contacts, on your wrist. Google is adding Fall Detection to the Google Pixel Watch in 2023. This is already available on Pixel smartphones. Fall Detection will contact emergency services if the Pixel Watch senses that you’ve taken a hard fall and are unresponsive. There’s a few more updates here for the December 2022 feature drop, which includes expanding a few features to more regions and in new languages. Like Cough and Snore Detection, as well as Live Chat Translate.What is a Pixel Feature Drop?
What devices are eligible for a Pixel Feature Drop?
When are they released?
October 2024 Pixel Feature Drop
Night Sight for Instagram
Underwater Photography & Video
Theft Protection
Audio Magic Eraser
Object Temperature Sensor
Pixel Weather App
Next-Gen Call Screen
Gemini Live
Gemini Extensions for Pixel Screenshots
Pixel Watch gains new Contact App, Emoji Email Reactions and Loss of Pulse Detection
Gemini on Pixel Buds
Notification Dismissals
June 2024 Pixel Feature Drop
Gemini lands on Pixel 8 and Pixel 8a as a developer option
Display Port is finally here
Reverse Phone Number Lookup
Recorder app gains a new “Summarize” feature
Find My Device now works when the phone is powered off
Pixel Watch and Tablet get additional features
March 2024 Pixel Feature Drop
10-bit HDR video and Ultra HDR Photos on Instagram
Next Gen Call Screen improvements
And more
January 2024 Pixel Feature Drop
Circle to Search
Magic Compose
Thermometer
Photomoji
October 2023 Pixel Feature Drop
New Camera app
Custom clock and Wallpaper collections
Dual Screen Interpreter Mode
New charging notifications
June 2023 Pixel Feature Drop
Cinematic wallpapers
Daily Readiness on Fitbit
Recorder Speaker Labels
Macro Focus Video
And more
March 2023 Pixel Feature Drop
Faster Night Sight
Magic Eraser
Direct My Call+
Health Connect
December 2022 Pixel Feature Drop
VPN by Google One
Clear Calling
Recorder Speaker Labels
Spatial Audio
Security and Privacy Settings
Pixel Wallpapers
Fitbit Sleep Profile
New Wear Tiles
Fall Detection
Other odds & ends
Here's every new feature in Google's latest Pixel Feature Drop
