Google's November Pixel Drop Brings AI-Powered Features and Enhanced Security to Android Users

Google just gave Pixel users 5 compelling reasons to update their phones - here's what's new

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET's key takeaways * The November Pixel drop is bringing new features to Pixel phones. * Users are getting scam protection, notification summaries, and more. * The features will start rolling out today. Heads up, Pixel users, your phone is getting some pretty cool new features for free thanks to the November Pixel Drop. Also: Amazon is selling the Google Pixel 9 for $300 off right now - and I highly recommend it Not only are you getting an additional layer of protection against scams, you're getting a new way to make sure you don't miss messages from important people, a way to get a summary of a long message thread, some fun photo tools, and more. These features will start rolling out today, Google says, but it might take a few days to reach all users. What's new in the November Pixel Drop? Let's take a look at what's new. 1. Scam Detection in messages Similar to the feature that listens in on your calls and alerts you to scams, Google Pixel 6 and newer phones are getting a layer of protection for text scams. When you get a chat notification from popular apps (Google didn't specifically name which ones) that looks suspicious, you'll see a "Likely scam" alert that gives you time to detect fraud. Also: I changed 12 settings on my Android phone to extend its battery life by several hours 2. Pixel VIPs upgrade Staying in contact with your important contacts, or your Pixel VIPs (if you're not using this feature yet, you really should), is getting a little easier. Your phone can now prioritize notifications of messages from your VIPs, making sure you don't miss a message. VIPs also now have a crisis badge in the Contacts widget to keep you posted on critical alerts. 3. Notification Summaries If you just want the TL;DR, your Pixel can now give you a summary of your longer conversations. Google explains that lengthy texts across chat apps are easily recapped in your notification shade, letting you quickly catch up on busy group texts and long chat threads. These are only for the Pixel 9 and above. Also: Your Android phone's most critical security feature is turned off by default - how to enable it ASAP In addition, Google says that in December, your Pixel will help further reduce notification overwhelm by organizing and silencing lower-priority notifications. 4. Magic Cue gets more timely Magic Cue was arguably the flagship AI feature when Google announced the Pixel 10 series in August. Now, the context-offering AI feature will be able to give more timely prompts and suggestions, thanks to a new Private AI Compute. It's essentially a cloud engine that taps into more recent public information to give better responses when the setting is right, whether you're in a text message conversation or phone call. Note that this still only works on Pixel 10 models. 5. Remix in Google Messages The Remix feature that hit Google Photos over the summer is now available in Google Messages. Also: The Pixel phone update that Android fans can be proud of - and how it beats iOS 26 You can edit or reimagine any photo in Messages, even in a group chat, into various styles, such as anime, comic, 3D animation, or sketch. Everyone can view your remixed photos, even if they're not using a Google phone. Additionally, if you're chatting with another Google Messages user, you can both remix the same photo back and forth. This feature is available on the Pixel 6 and above, as well as all other Android devices. Bonus. Wicked: For Good Theme packs If you can't wait to get your Oz fix, check out the new "Wicked: For Good" theme packs to customize your Pixel with wallpapers, icons, system sounds, and GIFs inspired by the film. Three styles are available -- For Good, Glinda, and Elphaba. These are available for the Pixel 6 and up. Get the morning's top stories in your inbox each day with our Tech Today newsletter.

Google's Latest Pixel Drop Adds Messaging Tricks And Tweaks

Don't miss out on our latest stories. Add PCMag as a preferred source on Google. Google's latest Pixel Drop brings a messaging-minded bundle of updates -- some to make text banter more fun, others to make it less risky. This software update, now rolling out to most Pixel phones, begins with a Remix feature for Google's Messages app, which allows you to recreate an image shared in a chat using AI. It runs on Google's Nano Banana image-generation model and is coming first to users with RCS enabled on Pixel phones in the US, UK, Australia, Canada, India, Ireland, and New Zealand. A second component builds on the scam-detection feature that Google shipped in March, adding "Likely Scam" warnings to new-message notifications from third-party chat apps such as Discord and Telegram. A third makes the VIPs feature that Google added in Android 16 a little more useful by prioritizing notifications of messages from the friends and family you designate as very important. Google also updates the Contacts widget for VIPs to display relevant critical alerts, such as those related to a natural disaster occurring near them. All three of these additions work on phones as old as the 2021 Pixel 6 series, while two others require newer models. That's not always the case with Pixel Drops, which Google regularly ships as a treat for owners of its Pixel devices; one shipped last October confined most of its features to the latest phones. A new, AI-powered notification-summaries feature will attempt to sum up lengthy text threads. Your results may vary. I, for one, am skeptical of this tool's ability to boil down the sometimes-bizarre banter of the group chat I'm on for a long-running Dungeons & Dragons campaign. This feature, which appears to be the same one that surfaced in a beta of Android 16, requires Pixel 9-series or newer phones; the Pixel 9a, with hardware insufficient to run some of Google's on-device AI tools, doesn't make the cut. For some reason, a low-power mode for Google Maps, which simplifies the layout to show only the most driving-relevant information, is confined to the Pixel 10 series. One last part of this Pixel Drop is open to phones going back to Pixel 6, the oldest phones in Google's line to get operating-system updates. But it doesn't add new features or options, just a new look: "theme packs" based on the flick Wicked: For Good, which Google says bring "wallpapers, icons, system sounds and GIFs inspired by the film."