HiLight on Pixel 11 Pro phones now supports Google Messages

Google brought Pixel phones a new hardware feature this year, marking the debut of the HiLight notification light on Pixel 11 models, and now, with the release of the November Pixel Drop, it’s picking up some new functionality.

Notification lights have been around since phones weren’t even that smart, but in recent years we’ve seen less and less of them — which is a shame, because they can be genuinely useful. But while we were excited to see Google embrace them again for Pixel 11 phones (well, the Pro models, anyway), so far HiLight has been a little limited in terms of what it can officially do.

You’ve been able to configure colors for when specific contacts call you, or watch it glow when you talk to Gemini, but that’s about it. Getting much more out of it has required unofficial solutions like HiLight Studio.

Thankfully, that’s starting to change. As part of the November Pixel Drop, Google is now expanding HiLight notifications to Google Messages. Just like it’s worked with voice calls, you’ll start seeing HiLight illuminate when your phone is resting face-down, and you get a text from one of your favorite contacts.

That’s great to finally have — but honestly, also a little underwhelming. This is Google’s flagship phone, and two-and-a-half months post-launch, its new hardware feature only works with two first-party apps (three if you count Gemini), plus WhatsApp? What about Gmail? Maybe you want a little flicker of light to tell you when your favorite YouTube creator just posted a new video? And maybe it’s beating a dead horse by now, but: Bring a new feature to Messages, why not also bring it to Google Voice?

Hopefully Google is only getting started with building out HiLight app support, and we see this trend continue with future updates. We just showed you some new evidence for how Android’s upcoming Notification Rules could use HiLight to let you know when high-priority notifications arrive, but it’s still not clear how much longer we may be waiting for it. With any luck, it could be here with Android 17 QPR3 this coming spring. In the meantime, we’ll take the HiLight support we get.