Google’s New “Call Reason” Feature Lets You Mark Outgoing Calls As Urgent.
It’s hard to get people to answer the phone, though I don’t blame those who don’t. We’re so inundated with spam calls these days that refusing to answer incoming calls en masse isn’t a bad strategy. If the call might be related to an attempt to hack your bank account or a report of a fraudulent credit card charge that never happened, it might be best to just wait for friends and family to text.
But let’s say you call someone you know and trust, and they see it’s you. Even if they know the call isn’t spam, there are plenty of reasons why someone might not answer, including, of course, not wanting to talk right now. But if you really need to contact someone and don’t want meetings, commutes, or lack of desire to call to interfere, Google is currently working on a solution you can try right now.
Call reason allows you to mark calls as urgent
A new feature called ” Why You’re Calling ” is designed to separate important calls from the rest. When you start dialing a number, Google prompts you to mark the call as urgent. If you do, a pop-up will appear on the call screen saying “It’s urgent!” Hopefully, this pop-up will encourage them to answer; however, I suspect that if you use this feature too often, they’ll stop answering.
However, not everyone intentionally ignores calls. If you’re not near your phone when it rings, or it’s silent in your pocket or bag, you likely won’t see the “urgent” label on the call screen. In this case, Android adds the “urgent” label to the missed call in the recipient’s call history. If the person you’re trying to reach reviews their missed calls, they should see the call marked as “urgent.” However, if it’s truly an emergency, they may have received other calls and messages from you.
It appears Google has been working on this feature for some time. Android Authority previously discovered a feature called “Expressive Calling” in the Phone app’s APK file, which allowed callers to add animations and emoji to their calls. Additionally, the ability to specify the reason for the call when dialing was added.
How to try calling Reason
Google is still testing the “Call Reason” feature, but anyone using the current version of the Google Phone app will be able to try it out. (It’s still rolling out, so you may not see it yet.) The feature also only works with saved contacts and when calling Android users who have the Google Phone app set as their default calling app.
If the call reason is displayed on your phone, you’ll see it after the call. A message will appear in the interface, “Mark call as urgent?”, indicating that the call will be answered and that it’s urgent. Tap “Notify,” and you’re all set. Once the recipient sees the call, the “Incoming Call” banner will change to an animated pop-up message, “It’s urgent!” It’s a fun design, but perhaps a little too fun, especially since you’re likely to use it in important situations.
Along with Call Reason , Google announced a number of new features for Android 16. These include improved parental controls, including a PIN lock of your choosing; new UI customization options, such as expanded dark mode support and new custom shapes for home screen icons; and the continued rollout of Google’s AI-powered notification summaries , which Lifehacker contributor David Nield hasn’t found particularly useful yet.