Ahead of this week’s Pixel 8 event, the company has rolled out an update for the Pixel Buds app, preparing for new features like “Hearing Wellness,” “Conversation Detection,” and more, confirming our earlier reporting.
About APK Insight: In this “APK Insight” post, we’ve decompiled the latest version of an application that Google uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APKs, in the case of Android apps), we’re able to see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Keep in mind that Google may or may not ever ship these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. We’ll try to enable those that are closer to being finished, however, to show you how they’ll look in the case that they do ship. With that in mind, read on.
Hearing Wellness
As we first reported in May, the Pixel Buds Pro are set to gain a feature that is designed to protect the health of your ears by encouraging you not to listen to loud audio for extended periods. Effectively, the companion app will keep track of the volume levels of what’s playing through your buds. The app will even be able to show you the current approximate loudness of your earbuds by comparison to everyday sounds, like “Whisper,” “City Traffic,” and a “Music Festival.”
Hearing Wellness
To help improve your listening habits, you can check the current volume level of your earbuds media and get an exposure report, which tracks your accumulated listening volume over time.
This is the current volume of your earbuds media measured in decibels (dB).
This measures your listening volume over time. As you listen, your exposure accumulates towards a maximum recommended amount
Sudden loud noises like car horns or fireworks can affect your ears almost instantly, but even moderately loud sounds like traffic noise or power tools can affect your ears over long periods. As a rule, the louder the sound, the less time you should be exposed to it.
To protect you from extended exposure, the Pixel Buds app will keep track of the volume levels on both a daily and weekly scale.
Pixel Buds will notify you if the recommended exposure limit is exceeded
You’re within the exposure limit for your day or week
You’re approaching the recommended exposure limit
Conversation Detection
Meanwhile, on the convenience side of things, the Pixel Buds Pro will soon be able to detect when you’ve started speaking to someone while using active noise cancellation. If you have the “Conversation Detection” feature enabled, your Pixel Buds Pro will automatically pause your music and switch to transparency mode, allowing you to hear the other person more clearly.
Use Conversation Detection
Automatically switch to Transparency and pause media when you talk
Automatically switch from Noise Cancellation to Transparency when talking
When you’re in Active Noise Cancellation mode, your earbuds can detect when you’re talking to someone and will automatically switch to Transparency mode and pause the media for a clearer conversation.
Usefully, if this feature activates when you don’t intend it to, Google has also included a single-tap gesture to turn noise cancellation back on and resume your listening.
If Conversation Detection is accidentally triggered, tap your bud once to return to Active Noise Cancellation mode
Bluetooth super wideband
Google is also including a way for traditional phone calls to have better audio quality on the Pixel Buds Pro. Using a technology called Bluetooth super wideband, the buds will have additional audio data to work with, allowing for “richer, clearer phone calls.” You can read more about this feature in our original coverage.
Clearer calls
Your Pixel Buds use Bluetooth super wideband, which doubles the bandwidth and provides for richer, clearer phone calls.
Low latency audio
Another tidbit spotted by Dylan Roussel is that the Pixel Buds app is preparing a new feature that will reduce the latency of audio, a common complaint about wireless earbuds and, particularly, the Pixel Buds series. While we’ve not yet uncovered all of the specifics, it seems the reduced latency may be exclusive to Pixel phones and will require a specific minimum version of Android. Curiously, this version varies from device to device, but the Pixel 8 series running on Android 14 should be supported.
Nothing in the code seems to suggest how Google will enable this reduced latency, but our current guess is that the Pixel Buds Pro will gain support for Bluetooth LE audio, which, among other problems addressed, reduces audio lag. We’ll be keeping an eye on this as it develops further.
New Pixel Buds Pro colors
Lastly, it’s been thoroughly leaked by this point that the Pixel Buds Pro are gaining two new colors at this week’s Pixel hardware event: Porcelain and Sky. We’ve seen these colors a few times now, and this Pixel Buds app update includes a few more shots of each, as seen below.
Thanks to JEB Decompiler, from which some APK Insight teardowns benefit.
Dylan Roussel contributed to this article.
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