Google Assistant to ask if an incoming call from a contact is urgent

For years now, Pixel phones have offered an option to “Screen call,” allowing the Google Assistant to speak to an incoming caller on your behalf to find out who they are and what they want. This method is surprisingly effective for filtering out unwanted calls from unknown numbers, as many spam callers will hang up automatically, but it’s much less useful when you know who’s calling.

 Appearing in the incoming call screen as “Ask if urgent,” tapping the option gives your friend or family member a somewhat friendlier greeting from the Google Assistant.
As before, Assistant transcribes and displays what the caller says in response, while the Phone app offers tappable options to ask for more information.

The feature  just the newly released Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro. We’ve confirmed the new “Ask if urgent” option appeared on a Pixel 7 Pro over the weekend, but let us know in the comments if it appears on your older Pixel phone too.