Last year, the Pixel Phone app introduced “Receive a Message” to “automatically handle your missed or rejected calls.” A very small number of users have encountered an issue where “Receive a Message” sends its audio to the caller.
If you reject or miss a call, Receive a message is activated to ask the caller what they want: “The person you called is not available. Please leave a message after the tone.”
While this is happening, the Phone by Google app displays a “Receiving a message” notification. Tapping opens a real-time transcript of your response, with audio available after the fact. At any time, you can tap “Reply” to reply.
The capability was announced with the Pixel 10 and later became available for the Pixel 4 and newer in the US, UK, Ireland, and Australia. The feature also flags spam in the call log.
In recent months, at least six reports have emerged about Take a Message being activated and then sending background audio to the caller. The caller can hear what’s going on around your phone while you leave a message. It’s like you answered the call but couldn’t hear them.
The first report of this issue dates back to September 2025 on Reddit by a Pixel 5 owner. The first corroboration of this issue (in the same thread) was in mid-November by a Pixel 10 owner, with another report the following day. Later that month, another case of a Pixel 4a surfaced. They added that turning off Receive a Message resolved the issue.
Last day, two more reports from Pixel 4a owners surfaced. The latest from tonight describes how the microphone privacy indicator (green dot in the upper right corner) was activated when the phone stopped ringing and Receive a message was activated. After this happened to them naturally, they were able to trigger this problem twice.
We couldn’t replicate the issue on a Pixel 10 Pro, Pixel 7 Pro, or Pixel 4a (running Android 13).
This doesn’t seem to be a widespread bug, but it’s concerning nonetheless. (Instructions on how to disable it are below if you’re concerned.) There is only one report of a device still receiving OS updates today, and the common element so far appears to be older phones that are no longer supported.
Google is investigating these reports:
“Our team is aware of these reports and is actively investigating.”
— Google spokesperson
How to disable Receive a message
- Tap the hamburger icon in the top left corner of the Phone app for “Settings”
- Select “Receive a message” at the bottom of the Call Assist group.
- Press the on/off switch
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