How to Try the Google Phone App on Your Non-Pixel Android Device
Tired of … your phone’s phone app? You don’t have to keep using it if you don’t want to, now that you can probably try the Google Phone app, previously limited to its Pixel phones, on your Android.
Google is currently beta testing its Phone app and has made the beta available to many different phones. There is no guarantee that yours is compatible, but it only takes a minute to check if it is, so why not take a look at it? Follow this link to sign up for the beta program for the Google Phone app:
While Google claims that “it may take a while for the update to arrive,” I still have to wait more than a few minutes for the beta versions of Android apps to hit Google Play. By the way, here’s how you install it: open the Google Play Store, tap the hamburger icon, tap My Apps & Games, and install the Phone app. If that doesn’t work, you can revisit the Phone app page on Google Play and see if there is any download button you need to use.
Once you’ve done that, you have a brand new Phone app to play with. I don’t have a non-Pixel Android, but I’m going to be asked if you want to make the Phone app your default dialer when you launch it. If not, and you find that you like it after the first few times you use it, you can set it as your default dialer app by visiting your Android Settings > Apps & notifications> More> Default apps . (This path may differ depending on which Android you are using, but you can usually set the default apps for your device.)
Since this is beta, don’t expect to be able to experience the full range of features that Pixel users get in their phone apps, namely call verification. Unfortunately, beta is beta; but we hope the stable release brings together all the other cool features of the phone, especially those that make it easier to fight annoying spam and robot calls.