Google’s New Pixel Features Include Shortcuts to Your Favorite Contacts, Adds Scam Alerts

Google is giving Pixel users faster ways to reach frequent contacts, a new scam alert to fend off fraudulent texts and two months of Audible access coinciding with the launch of new Harry Potter audiobooks.

The September feature drop comes a month after the release of Google’s Pixel 11 line, and these features will be available to anyone using the Pixel 6 or newer.

An update to Google’s Pixel VIP feature — which lets you designate up to eight contacts as close friends and family — lets you create home screen widgets that can tap to easily call or text your favorite people. If you call someone especially frequently, you won’t need to dig through your phone or text app first.

Google’s new Scam Detection alerts in the Gboard keyboard will work across chat apps, showing a warning pop-up when the phone detects a likely scam text message. This feature joins the existing Scam Detection alerts in notifications, which are getting a regional expansion with support for more languages.

Pixel phones will receive Harry Potter theme packs for customizing your device’s home screen, icons and sounds, which are coming as part of a promotional tie-in with the Audible release of Harry Potter: The Full-Cast Audio Editions audiobook. Anyone with a Pixel 6 or newer will get the packs, along with an offer for two months of Audible access, whether or not you want to stream Harry Potter.

Google’s also updating its Pixel Watch this week, with improvements to how its raise-to-talk gesture works on the Pixel Watch 4 and 5, along with adding a one-handed pinch gesture for opening your notification tray on the Pixel Watch 3 and newer.

Google’s Pixel Drop comes as Apple just released iOS 27, which adds the updated Siri AI along with an assortment of AI features, to the iPhone 15 Pro and newer. Apple’s iOS 27 works on devices as old as 2019’s iPhone 11, promising performance improvements along with an overhauled device search.