Pixel VIPs app makes an early appearance on the Play Store
Aamir Siddiqui / Android Authority
TL;DR The Google Pixel VIPs app is now available on the Play Store for some Pixel phone owners.
The app reveals more details about the upcoming Pixel VIPs home screen widget.
Unfortunately, you can't access the actual Pixel VIPs widget after downloading this app.
We uncovered the existence of a Pixel VIPs widget back in January. This widget centralizes all sorts of info from your preferred contacts in a home screen widget. Now, it looks like the feature is available to Pixel phone owners — well, sort of.
The Pixel VIPs app listing is showing up on the Google Play Store for some Pixel owners, and we're able to see this on our own Pixel phones as well. Users can also tap the 'update' button and install it. Check out the screenshots below.
'Quickly and easily connect with the people who matter most to you. See your last call and message with them, their real-time location, activity suggestions, and more,' reads an excerpt of the app listing. 'Your VIPs can also bypass Do Not Disturb, so you never miss a moment.'
We also previously uncovered evidence that the feature supports up to eight contacts, birthday reminders, and notes functionality for a contact. Furthermore, we discovered that WhatsApp integration was also in the works. So this certainly seems like a robust widget and feature.
Unfortunately, updating the app doesn't actually enable the Pixel VIPs widget right now. So we'll likely have to wait for an additional update or server-side change to access the feature. Nevertheless, the app listing suggests that we won't have to wait too long.
Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at
Email our staff at news@androidauthority.com . You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNET
19 minutes ago
- CNET
Is ChatGPT Down for You, Too? Widespread Outage Continues to Grow
Have you noticed that ChatGPT is a little less chatty this morning? OpenAI is experiencing a widespread outage Tuesday morning that's affecting its ChatGPT AI chatbot service, as well as its Sora tool for AI-generated videos. The number of reported outages has continued to increase throughout the morning. An OpenAI representative responded via email, directing us to its post on X and its status page. Both stated that OpenAI is experiencing "elevated errors and latency" and that it has identified the root cause and is working to mitigate the underlying issue. The technical issues are also affecting OpenAI's APIs, which allow developers to tap into the company's AI models. The troubles been ongoing for seven hours, OpenAI noted, meaning they likely started around midnight PT. The Downdetector service also shows outage reports starting around that time and then spiking several hours later. (Downdetector is owned by Ziff Davis, which is also the parent company of CNET.) Launched in 2022, ChatGPT has become the most popular AI application ever released, with 400 million weekly users. A barrage of generative AI competitors have followed, including Meta AI, Google's Gemini and Microsoft's Copilot, but ChatGPT remains the leader largely because it's easy to use. At its Worldwide Developers Conference 2025, Apple even touted an expansion of its ChatGPT integration. The AI chatbot uses learning algorithms and large language models to process massive amounts of data from books and the internet, which it uses to deliver human-like responses to prompts from users. (Ziff Davis in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) This is a developing story. What can you do while OpenAI is down? Although OpenAI's ChatGPT may be among the most popular options, there are plenty of alternatives while it's down -- and many of them are free to use. Chat Claude is our current favorite chatbot we've tested, and Claude even knew all the details about ChatGPT's outage, according to my colleague Jon Reed, CNET senior editor who covers AI. Images If you rely on ChatGPT's Dall-E 3 as your image generator, we'd recommend trying for really creative work and Canva for free, beginner-friendly work. Video If you're looking for an alternative to Sora tool for AI-generated videos, we just checked out Microsoft's Bing Video Creator, which is super easy to use and live on mobile now.
Forbes
20 minutes ago
- Forbes
ChatGPT Down: Eight Hours And Counting
It's been a dark day for ChatGPT ChatGPT is suffering from a prolonged outage, which has seen the service disrupted for more than eight hours. The OpenAI service status page reported that 'some users are experiencing elevated error rates and latency across the listed services.' from around 4am ET. As of 11:15 ET, the service is still struggling, with OpenAI reporting that it's 'still working on implementing the mitigation for this issue." The 'partial outage' is disrupting ChatGPT, the Sora video generation service and the company's APIs. Although the ChatGPT site appears to be functional, responses to queries have been slow or showing error messages for several hours. The 'too many requests'" error appeared when I entered a prompt shortly before this article was published, with the service appearing to slow down further with more of the U.S. entering working hours. This is a breaking news story. More to follow.
The Verge
29 minutes ago
- The Verge
Microsoft is moving its Build conference out of Seattle for 2026
Microsoft isn't planning to host its Build developer conference in its home city of Seattle next year. The conference is being relocated, and Microsoft has reportedly canceled all its holds for Build at the Seattle convention center 'for all future years.' 'Our plans for Build 2026 have changed, but our vision to empower builders and developers at a major event next year remains unchanged,' said an unnamed Microsoft spokesperson in a statement to The Seattle Medium. 'We appreciate the city and community for their support over the years.' We asked Microsoft to clarify why it's moving out of Seattle, but the company provided the same statement. It's not clear where Build will be located next year, or even if Microsoft may decide to make it an online-only event. The Seattle Medium reports that the decision to move Build could have been related to attendee experiences in downtown Seattle. It cites an unnamed email that claims Build attendees had 'cited the general uncleanliness of the streets, visible drug use, and the presence of unhoused individuals.' Microsoft has held Build in Seattle since 2017, apart from the pandemic years of 2020 to 2022 when it was online-only. Build originally started as a successor for the company's Professional Developers Conference (PDC) and MIX events in 2011, and was held initially in the Anaheim convention center in California. Microsoft then hosted Build on its own campus in 2012, before moving the developer conference to the Moscone Center in San Francisco for four years. Attendees at Build this year were met with heavier security than usual as hundreds of protesters outside the venue gathered to protest against Microsoft's contracts with the Israeli government. Protesters released balloons with alarms attached, unfurled banners, dropped leaflets, and even disrupted Microsoft's Build keynotes and sessions.
