June Pixel Feature Drop Slapping You With 10 New Features

On the day that Google is releasing Android 16, they are also kicking out the June Pixel Feature Drop and an Android Feature Drop. It’s a wild day for Pixel and Android folks who love accepting new toys to play with. I will point out that both Pixel and Android drops have a lot in common and this is probably one of the smaller Pixel-focused drops in recent memory. However, you are also getting Android 16, so it’s not like you aren’t getting anything, right?

June Pixel Feature Drop: In this new Feature Drop for Pixel devices, there are probably 4 to 5 exclusive new features for your Pixel, while the rest is basically a part of this Android Feature Drop that we wrote about as well. Be sure to dive through the list below and then see what else Google released for everyone else with an Android device.

• Pixel VIPs: Google accidentally posted this over the weekend and a number of Pixel owners saw it early, so you may have seen this one. But yeah, Google is releasing a new Pixel VIPs widget that pulls from your Contacts app. This shows your closest family and friends on a clean widget with their last call and messages, including those from WhatsApp. It will soon show upcoming birthdays and anniversaries too, when their real-time location is shared, and a way to jot down memos for them. As a VIP, they’ll also bypass Do Not Disturb, so you’ll never miss calls and other moments. This is available to the Pixel 6 and newer. (Google Play Link)
• Redesigned Google Photos editor (coming soon): This is actually rolling out to most Android users, but it’s worth noting up top here. Google is rolling out a redesigned Google Photos editor that is heavily powered by AI. Basically, you’ll tap on photos to get tips to do things like add focus blur, remove objects, add portrait light, or just fully “AI Enhance” a photo. Google is only saying that this is “coming soon” still.
• Gboard custom stickers from Pixel Studio: By using the power of Pixel Studio and Generative AI, Gboard can now create a sticker of almost anything you can think of. This all happens from the keyboard, where you can type a prompt and watch the magic happen without ever leaving the app you are in. This is available to the Pixel 9 and newer.

• Battery Health Indicator: For Pixel 8a+ devices (not Pixel 8 /8 Pro), Google is expanding its Battery Health Indicator, which provides info about the health of your device’s battery. It’ll report estimated remaining capacity and helps you understand if it might be time to get your battery replaced. With phones seeing support for 7 years now, this might actually be a thing some of us will consider doing.
• Camera Education: Google is adding a ‘?’ icon to the Pixel Camera app that gives you visual examples of what a feature might do.
• Pixel Watch gets Express Transit: Your Pixel Watch is getting Express Transit payments taht allow you to tap and pay in the quickest way with your screen off and without having to open the Google Wallet app. That’s actually awesome. You’ll need a Pixel Watch running WearOS 5.1 and newer.

The rest of the update: A good chunk of the rest of this Pixel Feature Drop really is just an expansion of features or stuff that is general Android stuff that Google announced as rolling out to non-Pixel devices. Here’s a quick rundown of the rest of it.

• Advanced Protection: An Android 16 feature that Pixel devices get, which gives them a single toggle to completely protect their device. We have more on this in our Android 16 write-up.
• Expressive captions: An upgraded version of Google’s live captions, new Expressive Captions will attempt to automatically capture the intensity or nuance or emotion of how someone is speaking in videos you are watching. As you can see in the image above, it might even give you the most intense soccer play-by-play a silent mode phone could ever attempt. This is for all Android devices running Android 15+.
• Safety Check timer extension: Android’s Safety Check is getting a way to easily extend your timer just as you might need to.
• Customize Google Home favorites: On Pixel Tablet and Watch (and other Android tablets and watches), Googles is letting you customize your Google Home favorites (finally).
• Hearing Aids feature with LE Audio: LE audio features now work with hearing aids on Pixel 9 and newer phones running Android 16.

Expanded features: Finally, below are a few items that are simply expanding to new countries, languages, and devices.

• Satellite SOS: This is expanding to Australia.
• AI Summaries in Recorder: This is expanding to French and German.
• Clear Voice Mode in Recorder: This is expanding to Pixel 8 phones and newer.

Below is the breakdown of features and which devices they are now available on.

// Google