{"id":771995,"date":"2026-09-16T01:26:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T01:26:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/771995\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T01:26:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T01:26:16","slug":"pixel-phones-are-getting-free-audible-scam-detection-in-your-keyboard-and-harry-potter-magic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/771995\/","title":{"rendered":"Pixel phones are getting free Audible, scam detection in your keyboard, and Harry Potter magic"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The news cycle is all about Apple&#8217;s recent announcements, but a little thing like a folding iPhone won&#8217;t stop Google from <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.google\/products-and-platforms\/devices\/pixel\/september-2026-pixel-drop\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">announcing the latest new tricks coming to Pixel phones<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>September&#8217;s Pixel Drop is now public knowledge, and it&#8217;s a doozy. Not only are Pixel owners getting some handy new ways to call their Pixel VIPs, but they can also get access to two months of Audible, and a bunch of Harry Potter themes to celebrate the release of the new full cast audiobooks. <\/p>\n<p>                                                                                                                            <a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidpolice.com\/used-dozens-of-android-smartphones-these-pixel-features-amaze-me-to-date\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n                        <img width=\"440\" height=\"248\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Google Pixel 10 Pro XL showing the back of the phone laying on some smart lights \" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/google-pixel-10-pro-xl-photo-03.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/google-pixel-10-pro-xl-photo-03.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>                    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                    Related<\/p>\n<p>\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidpolice.com\/used-dozens-of-android-smartphones-these-pixel-features-amaze-me-to-date\/\" title=\"I have used dozens of Android phones, but these Pixel features still absolutely amaze me\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tI have used dozens of Android phones, but these Pixel features still absolutely amaze me<br \/>\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"display-card-excerpt\">These add-ons make Pixel special<\/p>\n<p>                        Grab two months of Audible for free<\/p>\n<p>            Plus all the Harry Potter themes you can shake a wand at<\/p>\n<p>        <img width=\"1650\" height=\"1650\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The Harry Potter themes in the September Pixel Drop.\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/harry-potter-theme-packs.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/harry-potter-theme-packs.jpg\" class=\"img-brightness-opt-out\"\/><br \/>\n        Credit:\u00a0Google<\/p>\n<p>A new series of Harry Potter audiobooks are out on Audible, and rather than being voiced by a single narrator, each book has individually cast actors. So rather than being read a story by a single narrator, you&#8217;re instead listening to a full audioplay, including sound effects and a brand-new soundtrack. <\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a big time for     <\/p>\n<p> fans, and so Google is celebrating that with a number of new Harry Potter themes for your Pixel. With just one tap, your wallpaper, icons, and sounds are transformed into Harry Potter-themed versions.         <\/p>\n<p>And to make sure you don&#8217;t miss out, Google is also offering a two-month trial to Audible, so you can grab the first books. The terms for this offer aren&#8217;t yet known though, so we don&#8217;t know whether it&#8217;s just for new users, or whether it&#8217;s for the Premium tier, or the     <\/p>\n<p> of Audible.<br \/>\n                        Pixel VIPs get some love, while scams do not<\/p>\n<p>            Scam detection lives in your keyboard now<\/p>\n<p>                    <img width=\"480\" height=\"1005\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Scam Detection in your keyboard.\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/scam-detection.png\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/scam-detection.png\" class=\"img-brightness-opt-out\"\/>Credit:\u00a0Google<img width=\"480\" height=\"1005\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Scam Detection warning.\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/scam-detection_2.png\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/scam-detection_2.png\" class=\"img-brightness-opt-out\"\/>Credit:\u00a0Google<img width=\"480\" height=\"1005\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Scam Detection explainer.\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/scamdetection_1.png\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/scamdetection_1.png\" class=\"img-brightness-opt-out\"\/>Credit:\u00a0Google<\/p>\n<p>, the feature that lets you designate certain contacts as special, is getting some additional love in September&#8217;s drop.         <\/p>\n<p>Pixel VIPs now get an updated home screen widget which can be used to call at a single tap. A floating navigation menu means you can switch between VIPs with ease, while new notification badges mean it&#8217;s harder to miss those important calls. <\/p>\n<p>But more importantly,     <\/p>\n<p> is getting a big boost. It now lives in your Gboard, meaning it can warn you about scams in a variety of chat apps, and give you a quick explanation of why it thinks that too. This feature is only available in the US, though.        <\/p>\n<p>All of these new features are available on Pixels from the Pixel 6 and newer.<\/p>\n<p>                        The Pixel Watch gets some new features too<\/p>\n<p>            Improvements and expansions for your smartwatch<\/p>\n<p>        <img width=\"1650\" height=\"928\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"The front of the Google Pixel Watch 5\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/pixel-watch-5-weave-dial.JPG\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/pixel-watch-5-weave-dial.JPG\" class=\"img-brightness-opt-out\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The Pixel Watch isn&#8217;t left out in the cold either. The     <\/p>\n<p>&#8216;s Raise to Wake feature has gotten some tweaks, making it better.         <\/p>\n<p>But it&#8217;s the     <\/p>\n<p> and newer that&#8217;s getting a more fun feature. One-handed gesture controls are expanding out a bit, and you can now do a pinch gesture above your watch to open your notifications.         <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The news cycle is all about Apple&#8217;s recent announcements, but a little thing like a folding iPhone won&#8217;t&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[59,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-771995","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-gb","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}