hold for me

Google recently rolled out its big December security update for Pixels, which included a significant number of bug fixes for Pixel 6 and 6 Pro phones. However, that update appears to have shipped with a few issues of its own, including one that’s caused Google to temporarily disable the ‘Call Screen’ and ‘Hold for Me’ features.

In a post on Google’s support site, a company product manager noted that it’s disabling the two features for Pixel 6 phones running Android version SQ1D.211205.016.A4. If you’re unsure what version your Pixel 6 is on, there are a few ways to check. You can open the Quick Settings panel by swiping down to open the notification panel, then swiping down a second time.

Look at the bottom of the Quick Settings bubbles on the left side of the screen, above the ‘Pencil’ icon — you should see the current Android version number scrolling by. Alternatively, you can go to Settings > About phone > scroll to ‘Build number’ at the very bottom.

Google said in the post that it would disable the features because of a “bug in the December Android update” until it fixes the underlying problem. However, the search giant didn’t elaborate on what the issue was. Additionally, Google said it would provide updates on the post and invited users to click the ‘Subscribe’ button to receive email notifications about status updates.

Neither 9to5Google nor Droid Life, who both reported on the issue, had any additional detail about what was going on.

On my Pixel 6 running the December patch, I still had Call Screen listed in the Phone app’s settings menu and when I tested the feature, it worked fine. However, Droid Life reports that Call Screen and Hold for Me are both missing from its Pixel 6. For Canadians, Hold for Me has only shown up for some Pixel users in preview so far and hasn’t yet officially rolled out. That said, I’ve never seen the feature on my Pixel 6.

Source: Google Via: 9to5Google, Droid Life

Last October, Google rolled out ‘Hold for Me’ on the Pixel 5 and 4a 5G as a preview in the U.S. Now, it looks like the feature is rolling out to some Canadian Pixel owners.

Several members of the MobileSyrup team saw the Hold for Me feature pop-up on their Pixel phones, and according to a Reddit thread, other Canadian Pixel owners have seen the feature pop-up over the last week. Judging by what both Redditors and MobileSyrup team members have said, it appears that you need to be running both the Android 12 beta and the latest Google Phone app beta to get Hold for Me.

However, having both of those isn’t a guarantee you’ll get the feature. For example, across MobileSyrup’s Pixel 4, 4a, 4a 5G and 3 all running the Android 12 beta and all with Phone app version ‘70.0.394259711-publicbeta.’ However, only the Pixel 3 and 4a 5G have the Hold for Me feature. Additionally, another team member with a Pixel 4a on Android 11 doesn’t have the feature, while Redditors who reported having it said they had the Pixel 4 XL.

MobileSyrup has reached out to Google Canada about the apparent Hold for Me rollout.

If you meet the conditions and are also blessed by Google, you should see a pop-up detailing Hold for Me next time you open the Google Phone app. It looks like the screenshot above and features the following description:

“Hold for Me can wait for you when some of the places you call put you on hold. Your phone will ring when someone’s ready to talk to you. Hold for Me temporarily records your call and is available for only English-language calls. Go to Settings to learn more or turn off this experimental feature.”

If you don’t see the pop-up, you can tap the three-dot menu button in the top-right corner > Settings > look for ‘Hold for Me’ under the ‘Assistive’ heading at the top of the menu. You can turn the feature on or off from there.

Those interested can learn more about how Hold for Me works by checking out MobileSyrup’s previous coverage.