Summary
- The Take a Message feature can accidentally stream your mic to callers.
- Disable Take a Message in Phone > Settings > Take a Message to avoid the issue.
- Google is aware of the problem and is investigating.
Last year, alongside the release of the Pixel 10 lineup, Google announced a new feature called “Take a Message.” The feature is essentially an AI-powered voicemail — rather than the call ringing out and the caller leaving a message, an AI assistant answers the phone, tells them you’re unavailable, and asks to take a message, which is transcribed in real time. After launch, Take a Message was quickly rolled out to older Pixel phones (yes, Google does bring exclusive features to older phones).
Unfortunately, a strange (and concerning) bug appears to be affecting the service. Instead of recording a message, the feature is picking up your mic input and playing it back to the caller. In other words, the wrong person is getting the message.
What’s going on with Take a Message?
Definitely not working as intended (for some)
It appears that, soon after its launch, Pixel owners started reporting odd behavior from their phone apps. The initial report (via 9to5Google) came from a Pixel 5 owner on Reddit who reported that callers could hear them while leaving voicemails.
Not long after this initial report, other Pixel owners began reporting the same issue, with several more reports to follow. It appears to affect a range of devices, with users reporting it happening on the Pixel 4a, Pixel 5, and 10. The most recent report is from January 21. Some reports also indicate that voicemails affected by the bug don’t fully record, so messages are cut off.
The only sign that anything is going on is the mic indicator showing up in the status bar — if you’re not looking for this, you may never know it’s happening. Meanwhile, the caller can hear everything happening in the background. This is a major privacy issue at best, and could potentially put people in unsafe situations.
How to avoid the Take a Message bug
Shut it down
If you’re affected by this bug, or just concerned that you might be, the solution appears to be simple — turn off Take a Message. It’s always unfortunate when you can’t use a quality-of-life feature, but that’s where we’re at. If you want to turn off Take a Message, here’s how:
- Open the Phone app on your Pixel.
- Tap the hamburger menu, then tap Settings.
- Tap Take a Message in the Call Assist section.
- Toggle the switch off.
This should eliminate the issue for now. Google appears to be investigating the bug, but how long a fix will take is unknown. Fortunately, it doesn’t appear to be particularly widespread — many users report being unable to replicate the issue. Personally, I am turning the feature off and sticking to old-fashioned voicemail for now.
