Strange Pixel bug allows callers to overhear conversations not meant to be heard

This might be the strangest bug I’ve ever heard about, and it is a messy one. A Reddit subscriber with the username mixmasterswitch shared a story about his wife explaining that when someone calls her Pixel 5 and leaves a voicemail, they can hear her talking while in the process of leaving a voicemail message. The wife doesn’t hear anything on her end, which makes it look as though she ignored the caller. But the caller can everything the wife is saying which is a pretty big breach of privacy.

Some Pixel users’ comments are being overheard by callers

The husband and wife tested this out. He was leaving his better half a voicemail message from his phone and heard “The person you are calling is not available, please leave a message” and from the wife’s phone, it looked like the call was missed or ignored. The husband started to leave a message and as he did, he could hear his wife although he could not hear her. Based on this, the husband does not believe the issue is with the Pixel’s new message screening feature because if it were related to that, he says that his wife should be able to hear him.

Pixel’s Take a Message feature in action. | Image credit-9to5Google

This weird issue also happened to another wife (albeit married to a different husband) who had this issue with her Pixel 4a. While several of those leaving similar stories on Reddit mentioned that this issue was happening on a Pixel 4a, at least one user said that this was occurring on his Pixel 10 series model. Other Pixel users believe that this is “an invasion of privacy.”

Some place the fault on Pixel’s “Take a Message” feature

Even though some of the Pixel users experiencing this say that it doesn’t sound like it could be related to the Pixel’s “Take a Message” feature, it makes too much sense to discard that as a possible cause. With this feature, if you miss a call or decide not to take it, “Take a Message” will play something like this, “The person you have called is not available. Please leave a message after the tone.” Tapping on the screen will allow the recipient of the call to read the message typed by the caller, which will help him decide whether to take the call or not.

If the recipient decides to pick up the call, pressing the answer button will connect the call allowing the conversation to begin. While this feature was originally made available to Pixel 10 users, Google subsequently added it to Pixel 4 through Pixel 9 series models in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and Ireland. In addition, from the call log, you will be alerted to spam calls.

Disabling this feature might stop the eavesdropping

You can disable “Take a Message,” which would eliminate the strange bug if it turns out that the feature is indeed responsible for it. Open the Settings page on your Phone by Google app and tap the hamburger icon on the left side of the search bar at the top of the screen. Under the Call Assist heading, tap on “Take a Message.” To disable the feature, toggle the switch off.

Screenshot shows you the toggle to disable &quot;Take a Message.&quot;

Toggling off Take a Message might stop the eavesdropping. | Image credit-PhoneArena

To make it as simple as can be, with this bug, what is happening to Pixel owners receiving an incoming call is similar to receiving a call and while the caller can hear you, you can’t hear them. That has got to be concerning for Pixel users who might say something not intended to be heard by others. The good news is that Google is currently investigating these reports. A Google spokesman says, “Our team is aware of these reports and is actively investigating.”

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