Use Take a Message for calls you miss or decline

You can use Take a Message at no charge to handle calls you miss or decline. You can find audio recordings of these messages from the "Home" tab of the Phone by Google app. Take a Message can also detect spam among messages left by missed or declined calls from non-contact numbers.

Transcription and peeking

If you’re in a supported country or region, you can get a live transcript of the call as the caller speaks. If you choose to pick up the call, tap Answer. Your notifications show the caller's name along with the first part of the transcript so you have the idea right away.

Tip: In other countries or regions, only audio is available.

The feature records and transcribes calls directly on your device and doesn’t need a Wi-Fi or mobile data connection. It uses local Speech On-Device API (SODA) to keep privacy and functionality. Calls you answer through Take a Message are treated as "Answered" by your carrier.

Your carrier voicemail handles missed or declined calls when your phone is off or out of network coverage.

As of 2026, you can use Take a Message with live transcription support on Pixel 6 and later phones in these countries or regions:

• Australia (English)
• Canada (English and French)
• France
• Germany
• India (Only available in Pixel 10 and later phones, in Hindi (India), and English (India))
• Ireland
• Italy
• Japan
• Spain
• United Kingdom
• United States

In these countries and regions, the service includes audio but doesn't support transcription features:

• Austria
• Belgium
• Czechia
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• Hungary
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Malaysia
• Mexico
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Romania
• Singapore
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Sweden
• Switzerland
• Taiwan

Tip: Call Actions like AI-generated next steps only on Pixel 9 and later phones in Australia, Canada, Ireland, United Kingdom, and United States.

Important: Make sure you have the latest version of the Phone app.

1. Open the Phone app .
2. Tap Menu Settings Take a Message.
3. Turn on Take a Message.
   • If you're a non-Visual Voicemail (VVM) user, it might turn on automatically.

Important: To use this on a Pixel Watch, you need a Pixel Watch 2 or later and a Pixel 6 or later phones.

• Your Pixel Watch must be connected to your Pixel phone over Bluetooth.
• On your connected phone, you must turn on Take a Message from the Phone by Google app settings.

When you miss or decline a call, you get a silent “Taking a Message” notification.

• Live interaction: You can read the transcript in real-time as the caller leaves their message.
  • Only in supported areas.
• Join in: To join the call at any time, tap Answer.

Tip: Sometimes Take a Message won’t work, and calls goes to your regular voicemail, if:

• Your phone is roaming (to avoid international charges).
• Your phone is off or out of network coverage.
• The phone rings too long before the feature can start.

All calls this feature handles saves an audio recording and a written transcript to your phone.

1. Open the Phone app .
2. Tap Home.
3. From your call list, select a recent missed or declined call.
4. Expand the call details to:
   • Play the audio.
   • Find the full transcript.
   • Get AI-generated next steps like "Call Min."

The feature uses content-based detection to identify spam and scams.

• When a suspicious call is detected, it’s labeled as “Likely scam” or “Spam” in your call log.

When you miss or decline a call, Take a Message answers it and plays a greeting for the caller.

• Custom greetings: Record your own custom greeting up to 60 seconds to replace the default message.
• Multiple greetings: Record and save multiple greetings and pick which one you want to use.

• Call forwarding: If your carrier's conditional call forwarding doesn't work with this feature, turn off Take a Message in the settings.
• Roaming: To avoid unexpected charges, this feature turns off automatically when you’re roaming.