Google is removing this beloved Pixel Buds feature (Update: Confirmed)

Updated, September 17, 2024 (03:54 PM ET): It’s been a few days now since we checked in with Google about this disappearing feature, and we’ve got some bad news if you were holding out hope that this change might be a glitch (in spite of the evidence to the contrary). Google has now formally announced the end of tap-for-notifications functionality:

Based on your feedback, we are here to announce that we will be making the following changes to your Google Assistant notifications on Pixel Buds while we evaluate further changes to notifications. Assistant will no longer read unread notifications when using the press Assistant feature. Assistant will also no longer read unread notifications automatically and allow you to reply.

In order to hear notifications, you can activate Google Assistant and say “Read my notifications.”

We’re still curious what that feedback might have looked like, as it’s not often that we hear about users requesting the removal of extant features.

Original article, September 12, 2024 (01:21 PM ET):  Modern earbuds are so much more than just tiny speakers perched in our ears, and the good ones offer numerous ways to directly interact with our phones, from music playback controls, to those connected to virtual assistants. The original Pixel Buds Pro are a couple years old at this point, but have still been holding up great — at least, so far. But now it looks like Google could be removing one of the key ways these earbuds let users control their phones.

Over the past couple days, Reddit users like hintze85 and fakeaccountt12345 have been sharing reports that their Buds have lost the ability to read notifications by pressing and holding on the earbud’s side (via 9to5Google). And lest we write this off as a glitch, some of these users report hearing an audio message informing them that “touch and hold wont read notifications anymore.”

What’s bizarre is that you’re still able to hear your notifications, but just no longer able to access them in this way. Instead, affected users need to speak their request aloud to Assistant. And while that works in a pinch, it’s a heck of a lot less graceful when you’re trying to be slightly more discreet.

We’ve heard some theories for why Google could be altering this behavior, and the best guesses at the moment are tied to the forthcoming release of the Pixel Buds Pro 2 and Google’s increasing focus on Gemini. Even with that in mind, this change still feels like a step backward, and none of the Pixel Buds users we’ve seen talking about it online seem very pleased with the decision.

Android Authority has reached out to Google to see if the company can shed some light on this situation, and we’ll update this post with anything new we learn.