March Pixel Feature Drop Adds Cross-Device Timers, Faster Night Sight, More

The March Pixel Feature Drop has arrived alongside this month’s big update that brings your Pixel phone up to Android 13 QPR2. While this is a bug-fixer beast of an update, it also adds new features you’ll want to know about.

After looking through the list of new items, there’s no denying that this is likely one of the lighter drops we have seen. That’s not to say that there won’t be some new goodies you’ll find useful, especially if you have an older Pixel or love to set timers on your Google Home/Nest devices or place lots of calls with automated systems.

Here is everything new in the March Pixel Feature Drop:

• At a Glance shows timers from Nest speakers and displays: I love this one. If you set a timer on a Nest speaker or display, your Pixel phone’s At a Glance widget can now show the countdown and will ping you with a notification as that timer expires.
• Health Connect: Google’s Health Connect, which wants to be the hub for connecting and sharing health information between apps, is now pre-installed on Pixel phones.
• Dual eSIM: The Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro now support dual eSIM, so you can have 2 eSIMs enabled at the same time.
• Direct My Call+ shows menus: If you call a business on your Pixel phone, Direct My Call will now show you call menu options before the robot on the other end has even spoken them, potentially shortening up those customer service calls.
• Faster Night Sight: The Pixel 6 and Pixel 6 Pro are getting “new and improved algorithms” for Night Sight that should make for faster low-light photos.
• Magic Eraser: This was already announced a couple of weeks ago, but Magic Eraser is now available for free to older Pixel phones as far back as the Pixel 4a.
• Pixel Watch Fall Detection: This is another feature that Google already announced, but they are going to include it as a part of this Pixel Feature Drop.

And that’s pretty much it.

Be on the lookout for the update right away – Google has already posted factory image and OTA files. Don’t forget to checkout the massive list of bug fixes and improvements too.

// Google