Google Releases New Pixel ‘Feature Drop’ With Latest March Security Patch

Pixel owners are getting new features on their devices as Google has started rolling out a new update. The update brings the second Pixel ‘Feature Drop’ available all across the Pixel smartphone range. The latest update also brings the latest March security patch.

Now the new features vary depending on the Pixel device that you have. Google has also said that while the update will bring new features, some of them might be activated through server-side rollouts, while some might need users to update the built-in apps. Now for Pixel 4 and 4 XL users will now be able to use Motion Sense to pause and resume music with a tapping gesture above the phone. This is in addition to the previous skip forward or go back gestures.

Google has also added car crash detection for Pixel 4 owners under the Personal Safety app for US users. This feature makes use of the phones’ sensors to detect if the user has been in a severe car crash, checks with you to see if you need emergency services and quickly makes a call. This feature will be available for users in Australia and the UK as well. If a user doesn’t respond, the Pixel device shares relevant information with emergency responders. There are also some improvements in portrait mode selfies. Pixel 4 devices also get a high brightness mode when the screen is in auto-brightness mode - this will be effective when you're out under very sunny conditions.

Next, Live Captions is now making its way to Pixel 2 and 2 XL users. For those who don’t know, this feature can automatically add captions to almost any media playing on your phone. New AR effects will now be available for Duo video calls and about 169 new emojis have been added for all Pixels.

A new menu has also been added when you long-press the power button. This shows the users’ Google Pay wallet while other options like shut down and reboot have been moved to the bottom. It also brings support for screenshots of your boarding passes with real-time flight updates for Pixel 3 and all phones launched after that. This feature is coming to the US, UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Ireland, Taiwan and Singapore

There is also the addition of a new Rules section in Settings which can automate certain tasks on the device based on your location or which Wi-Fi network you're connected to.