Google disables Take a Message feature on older Pixel devices due to audio leak issue.

Google is rolling back certain features of the Phone app on older Pixel devices due to a bug that unintentionally allowed audio to be leaked to callers. This problem is tied to the Take a Message feature introduced last year, which automatically answers and transcribes voicemails for missed calls. Some users of the Pixel 4 and 5 have reported that their microphones were activating while callers were leaving messages.

“We’ve looked into this issue and confirmed it affects a very small number of Pixel 4 and 5 devices under specific and rare conditions,” stated a Google community manager on a support page. “As a precaution, we’re disabling the Take a Message and next-gen Call Screen features on these devices.”

One Reddit user who encountered the bug noted that callers were not greeted by the usual voicemail message and instead could hear background sounds while leaving a message. The user explained that the microphone privacy indicator on their phone lit up after missing a call and activating Take a Message. “It felt like I had picked up the phone, but I hadn’t done anything. It just started recording me and sending audio to the caller.”

We’ve reached out to Google to clarify whether these features will be permanently removed from the Pixel 4 and 5 or if they will be reinstated later. For now, the community manager mentioned that affected Pixel users can still utilize manual and automatic Call Screening or rely on their carrier’s voicemail.