The Pixel 7a has a unique feature you won't find on other Pixel phones

Google’s latest hardware just launched this week during Google I/O. Now that people have had some quality time with the Pixel 7a, some discoveries are being made. One of those discoveries is a new feature not found on any other Pixel phone.

Hiding in the Settings of the Pixel 7a, neatly tucked away in Vibration & haptics — found in Sounds & Vibration — is a new feature. As spotted by Android Police, the new feature is called Adaptive alert vibration.

According to the description, Adaptive alert vibration “reduces vibration strength while your phone is still and the screen is facing up.” In other words, if you have your Pixel 7a sitting on a hard surface, you won’t be disturbed by a loud vibration when you get a notification.

It can be toggled on for both notifications and alarms. However, it doesn’t allow the user to customize the vibration intensity level it would be reduced to.

Google has also recently posted a support document about the feature. But the document doesn’t explain how Adaptive alert vibration works. It only explains how to turn the feature on.

Although the Pixel 7a is the only Pixel phone to have Adaptive alert vibration, it’s not the first time we’ve seen it. The feature was first found in the Android 13 QPR2 Beta 1. However, at the time, the feature was hidden in the beta and required a flag for it to show up.

Since this seems to be a purely software-based feature, there’s nothing preventing it from coming to other Pixels. Maybe we’ll see it come to the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro down the road.