This long-overdue Pixel upgrade might make you ditch carrier voicemail for good

What exactly is the Take a Message feature?

Take a Message is a very useful feature that was recently introduced with the Pixel 10 lineup. It’s basically a smarter alternative to voicemails, and it automatically answers and transcribes calls for you.

When you are unable to take a call for any reason, the feature automatically asks the caller to tell the reason why they called you. The best part is that while the caller is recording their response, you can intervene and take up the call. The recorded voicemails and transcripts can be found in the Recents tab of the Google Phone app.

Take a Message is getting a much-needed upgrade

Custom greeting feature of Take a Message. | Image by 9to5Google

Take a Message is already one of my favorite features on my Pixel 10. However, I always used to hope about how cool it would be if it could allow setting custom greetings. For reference, when it takes over the call, the caller hears a very generic message that says, “The person you have called is not available. Please leave a message after the tone.”

It’s the same message that most carriers play when a call is not picked up. It was, however, reported in April this year that the tech giant is working on giving you the option to create custom greetings. The capability is finally live and is reportedly available to everyone.