What you need to know
- Google’s September Pixel Drop is live, hitting Pixel phones, tablets, and watches with home screen upgrades, fraud protections, and new watch gestures.
- Pixel VIPs gets a proper home-screen upgrade: one-tap calls and texts, notification badges for unread or urgent messages, and a floating nav bar to swipe between contacts.
- Scam Detection now covers more languages and regions for chat notifications, and Gboard flags suspicious messages as you type.
Google today rolled out its September Pixel Drop, which includes a new batch of updates for Pixel phones, tablets, and smartwatches. The latest release brings updated home screen tools, improved fraud protections, new smartwatch gestures, and a spellbinding audio partnership to tie it all together.
Google has been working on its VIP contact concept for some time, but this update makes it really useful. The tech giant is giving the feature a new home-screen experience, letting you call or text your favorite contacts with a single tap. New notification badges indicate unread messages or urgent messages, and a floating navigation bar lets you swipe between VIP profiles without having to dig through menus.
The update works on Pixel 6 and newer phones worldwide, provided the required Contacts and Pixel VIPs app versions are installed.
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(Image credit: Google)
Scam Detection is also expanding to more languages and regions for chat notifications, and Gboard can now flag suspicious messages from supported chat apps directly as you type. Availability varies by country and language, so this isn’t a universal rollout just yet.
Pixel Watch gets a smaller but useful upgrade. Raise to Talk gets enhancements on Pixel Watch 4 and newer. On Pixel Watch 3 and newer, you can launch and scroll through the notification tray with a one-handed pinch gesture.
(Image credit: Google)
There’s also a much less serious addition: Harry Potter Audiobook Packs can change a Pixel’s wallpaper, icons, and sounds, and eligible users will receive a two-month Audible trial. The packs are good through December 31.