Your Pixel phone’s June update is here: Biggest new features

Google has announced the latest in its series of quarterly Pixel Feature Drops – software updates that add neat new features to the company’s own-make products with the primary focus sat on its phones. For June 2023, though, the company is spreading the wealth around with pushes towards the Pixel Watch and Fitbit products.

What’s new in Google’s latest Pixel drop?

Here’s what currently-supported Pixel phones are getting:

Google Assistant voices

Two new Google Assistant voices – Line and Indigo – were announced about a week ago, but are being promoted under the Pixel Feature Drop umbrella. Open Google Assistant, tap your Google account vicisitud, scroll to Assistant voice & sounds to see them.

Safety check

Google Assistant now also recognizes commands to start a safety check or even emergency contact sharing. If you’re in a potentially unsafe situation, you can have your phone ask you to check in after a set amount of time. If you don’t respond to the check, your live location information will be shared with your emergency contacts. This feature is part of the Pixel-exclusive (generally speaking) Personal Safety app.

Also part of Personal Safety, if your phone detects that you’re in a crash and don’t respond to a check-in prompt, it will now notify your emergency contacts in addition to emergency services.

Google Home panel

The Google Home app’s quick toggle in the notification shade opens up a new panel that lets you toggle spaces and devices without opening the full app.

Adaptive charging’s learning model now uses Google AI instead of a weird, arcane set of rules based on when you set your alarms (Android Police has a great explainer). It will learn when you tend to leave your device on the charger for a long time and adjust charge rates to be slower until about an hour before when you tend to unplug.

Anything else new in the June Pixel Feature Drop?

Owners of the Pixel 5 and 5a will feel a bit left out with the next set of phone features – while the former is set to lose out on official software support come October, the 5a still has more than a full year until August 2024.

Here are some model-specific feature additions:

On Pixel 6 and newer devices:

• In the camera, you can raise your palm to start a shutter timer of three to 10 seconds.
• Emoji Wallpapers combine any of the 4,000 or so available emoji available with splashes of color for a unique look.
• The Cinematic Wallpapers feature takes one of your 2D photos and uses AI to generate 3D space so that the background adjusts itself spatially based on gyroscopic positioning. Reminds of that party trick that held up Amazon’s Fire Phone from 2014 – and that used a dedicated array of cameras.
• The Recorder app will be updated next week to allow transcripts to easily be exported into Google Docs, generate speaker-centered video clips (if video was taken) based on AI-applied speaker labels, and search for speakers within recordings.
• Pixel 6a and 7a owners will notice reduced haptic motor intensity when their device is placed on hard surfaces like a desk.
• Pixel 7 Pro owners can now use Macro Focus in video mode for dramatic close-ups and crisp, narrow fields of focus in motion.

Pixel Watch users will get to enjoy the following new features:

• SpO2 oxygen saturation measurements.
• Notifications when your heart rate is abnormally high or low based on previous all-day readings.
• Spotify has new tiles for quick access to your podcasts, heavy rotation, and the new AI-powered DJ/shuffle feature.
• Your workout will automatically be paused when you’re stopped and resumed when you pick things back up.
• Google Assistant for Wear OS is now available in Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish.

Other Google updates

Metal link bands

Not a feature, but seemingly just as important are the new Metal Links bands that Google is selling from 16 June for $200. Here’s the Google Store US listing if you’re interested.

Fitbit

Finally, customers of Fitbit will look to benefit with this drop as well, but again, which new features you get will be highly dependent on which band or watch you own.

1. Fitbit Premium subscribers can get their Daily Readiness Score from their home views on all bands and watches in support.
2. Notifications in Arabic, Hindi, and Vietnamese are available for the Sense 2, Versa 4, Charge 5, and Luxe and Inspire 3.
3. A new menstrual health tile is available for Sense 2 and Versa 4 owners. There’s a new shortcut to change watch face styles – long press on your home screens.
4. In addition to four new watch faces, the Exercise menu has been reorganized on the Charge 5 and Luxe and Inspire 3 to feature your most recent exercise modes at the top of the list.