Pixel Will Now Let VIP Contacts Bypass Your Do Not Disturb Mode
If you have a Pixel phone, you should find that Google has already released both Android 16 and the June 2025 Pixel Drop for it, giving you some important new features to take advantage of. One of these new features is Pixel VIP: it lets you grant “Very Important Person” status to a select number of your contacts, giving them privileges including the ability to override your active Do Not Disturb settings.
This helps solve the biggest problem with Do Not Disturb: you might miss a call or message about something important. There’s always the chance that an emergency might happen when you’ve blocked incoming alerts, but Pixel VIP gives you the ability to make sure the most important people in your life can still get through.
If you’re unfamiliar, the Do Not Disturb settings on the Pixel can be found by opening the main Settings app, then tapping Modes . Do Not Disturb appears alongside other options you’ve set up, like for sleeping or driving. Tap Do Not Disturb , and you’ll be able to turn it on or off manually, set it to run on a schedule, and choose which contacts, apps, and alarms are allowed to override it.
Before Pixel VIPs, your choice for allowing Do Not Disturb communications was for all your contacts, none of your contacts, or your favorite contacts: there was no special option to create a custom list. Pixel VIPs improves on this, allowing you to create a new level of superstar people with some extra features.
To get started with Pixel VIP (if the update has actually reached you ), open the Contacts app, go to the Organize tab, then tap Pixel VIP . Tap Next on the introductory announcement, and you’ll be able to choose up to eight different contacts for this perk: You’ll see a few suggestions on the screen, and you can tap Add to see your full list of contacts.
Tap Next to continue, and you can then grant the Pixel VIP feature permission to access your SMS messages, WhatsApp chats, and your location – all of which will remain private to you, and it’s worth noting that your contacts won’t know you’ve selected them as a Pixel VIP either.
Pixel VIPs Widget
Once you’ve completed the setup wizard, you’ll be shown a preview of the Pixel VIPs home screen widget. You can select Add to home screen right away, or add it later by long-pressing an empty part of the home screen, then tapping Widgets . The VIPs widget is located under the Contacts heading.
The widget will initially be a 4 x 1 block, but you can resize it by long-pressing the widget and then using the handles on the edges. You can also tap the pen icon (bottom right) to return to the Pixel VIPs screen to manage enabled contacts and permissions.
Tap any contact in the widget and you’ll be taken to a dedicated Pixel VIPs page for that person. You can see your most recent messages from that person, their current location if you’ve chosen to share it via Find My Device or Google Maps, and any other details, like their birthday, that you may have saved.
There’s also a Notes section if you need to jot down a reminder or memo about someone: Google suggests you put birthday gift ideas here. There’s even a block of suggestions for things you might want to do with them, like see a movie or go to a restaurant. You can customize these suggestions with the slider on the right.
As for the Do Not Disturb settings, nothing has changed, except that Pixel VIPs are automatically added to your favorite contacts. Google isn’t giving a definitive answer, but from what I can tell, you still have to select your favorite contacts from the Do Not Disturb screen itself mentioned above — it’s not enough to just select someone as a Pixel VIP, but it does give you an easier way to manage that privileged list of people.
I can see Pixel VIP being a useful way to manage important contacts, and it would be nice to see more integrations with more apps, though that’s up to the app developers as well as Google. For now, it’s earned a spot on my home screen.