Pixel phones hide a voicemail tool that moves messages out of your carrier’s system and into Google’s Phone app. Turn on Take a Message in minutes to see live transcriptions and manage voicemails without calling your carrier.
What Take a Message does
Take a Message moves voicemail from your carrier into Google’s Phone app. It shows missed and declined calls, groups calls by type, and provides real-time transcriptions of messages while callers leave them. That lets you see who left a message and what they said without dialing into your carrier's voicemail system.
ZDNET's Jack Wallen called the feature a simpler way to manage messages than carrier-based voicemail, and Android Authority has noted many Android users aren’t aware it exists.
Why people use it
Take a Message cuts steps: no calling a voicemail number, entering a PIN, or listening through messages. Instead, the Phone app’s Home tab collects missed calls, contacts' calls, non-spam calls, spam calls and any notes attached to calls.
That central view changes how you triage calls. If someone leaves a short message, you can read the live transcript and decide whether to call back immediately, ignore it if it’s spam, or return the call straight from the app.
Google designed the system to work alongside call screening. Call screening answers suspicious calls, asks questions, and either blocks the caller or records a transcript; Take a Message brings those transcriptions into the Home tab so you don’t have to switch screens.
How to turn Take a Message on
- Open the Phone app.
- Tap the three-line menu in the top-left corner and choose Settings.
- Scroll to Take a Message and flip the On/Off slider to On.
Once you enable it, the Home tab will begin showing the new message categories and live transcriptions for incoming messages. The toggle is reversible — switch it off the same way if you prefer carrier voicemail.
What you'll see after you enable it
Your Home tab adds swipeable pills beneath the search bar. Use these to filter calls:
- Missed calls
- Calls from contacts
- Non-spam calls
- Spam calls
- Call notes
The transcript for a currently recording voicemail appears while the caller is still leaving the message, so you can quickly judge urgency — useful in meetings or quiet places where you can’t take a call.
Custom greetings and the rollout
Google is testing an update that lets Pixel owners record custom voicemail greetings inside the Phone app rather than through their carrier. The new greetings option is limited to builds in the Phone app beta; devices running the Phone app beta can create custom greetings, while users on the stable channel must wait for the feature to roll out.
How to check your Phone app version
On most Pixels, go to Settings > Apps > All apps, then find Phone in the list. Tap the app and check the version number on the app info screen.
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If you want custom voicemail greetings now, join the Phone app beta; otherwise wait for Google to roll the feature into the stable release.
This article was created with AI assistance.
