Google Trials Urgent Calls in the Phone App

Google is testing a way to identify phone calls as urgent so the recipient can break through your Do Not Disturb settings and see why you’re calling before they pick up. Signs of this experiment appear in the most recent public beta of Google’s Phone app with a feature referred to as “Expressive Calling,” allowing callers to add a short message and an emoji to provide some visual urgency and context up front.

How Expressive Calling Seems to Work in Practice

Follows strings found in the Google Phone beta (v201.0.833052069) mention “Expressive Calling” and a user-facing label by the name of “Call Reason,” with the description — Notify and see when a call is urgent — “Given this, my bet would be on some form of voicemail-like calling feature.” It seemed like this may have been connected to anonymous caller ID at first, but that does not make much sense either.

When making the call, users would pick a preset reason — four are currently mentioned — to be communicated along with an emoji to convey tone. Also present is a “Missed an Urgent Call” notification string, which tempts us to expect special treatment in the notification shade.

The pre-call message looks like an RCS feature, so you may need to grant it SMS permissions and have modern messaging support on either end. In the event that the recipient doesn’t have RCS or is using a non-Google dialer, the experience may be degraded or fall back completely, but those specifics aren’t locked down yet. A different prominent string of text says it will allow for “urgent” calls to “ring through” and essentially override the Do Not Disturb setting with a clear message — an “It’s urgent!” banner — in the incoming call.

To minimize abuse, the feature is expected to be restricted to contacts rather than unknown numbers. That design decision would be consistent with Google’s current anti-spam stance in Phone, which already relies on strong caller ID and automatic spam screening to brush off bad actors.

Why This Feature Matters for Calls and Do Not Disturb

Do Not Disturb is important, but it can also spark real anxiety when you fear missing something that’s time-sensitive. The workarounds now — letting “starred” contacts through when DND is on or asking for exceptions to screen calls in the future — are blunt tools. A contextual “urgent” flag for each call with a short explanation will be more nuanced: “Running late to pick up” or “Need signature for the door delivery,” and confer immediate context (a reason why your focus ought to be broken).

It is timely, considering the high number of unwanted calls. The YouMail Robocall Index regularly estimates that there are billions of robocalls in the United States every month, and regulators in the United States like the FCC continue to ask carriers about call authentication. A reason-coded, contact-restricted emergency mode could allow really important calls to get through without throwing the door open to spammers.

There’s also a cross-platform angle. Apple offers Emergency Bypass and per-contact DND exceptions on iOS, and Android has its own starred contact rules. Google’s system takes it one step further, combining the override with a short human-readable reason, which might make gambling on whether to answer less of a guess.

RCS Reach and Compatibility Across Devices and Carriers

The pre-call message lives and dies on it being RCS, so ubiquity helps. Google has previously stated that RCS in Messages has exceeded 1 billion monthly active users, and the GSMA’s approach to a Universal Profile has been gradually adding carrier compatibility. The more ecosystems that adhere to RCS interoperability, the better the likelihood becomes that an urgent call reason will appear as intended instead of reverting to a dumb call.

Enterprise scenarios could benefit, too. Verified business calling — where brands verify their identity in order to decrease spoofing — is already a priority on all of the carriers and platforms. Once Google weds verified identity to reason-coded urgent flags, delivery people, doctors, and schools might place time-sensitive calls that are more dependable and difficult to ignore.

Abuse risks and likely protections for urgent calling

The obvious concern is abuse: what prevents a spammer from marking all as urgent? Narrowing the feature down to saved contacts is a powerful first level of filtration. Google’s current spam protection, server-side verification, and rate limitations would further tamp down bad actions. Look for robust controls to silence or rescind immediate powers from individual contacts if they overuse the label.

A Small But Useful Adjustment Also Found

In addition to Expressive Calling, the beta teases a straightforward toggle that would help prevent the in-call screen on your phone from flipping into landscape mode even when you have auto-rotate enabled. It’s the kind of minor quality-of-life touch that might help prevent the phone from accidentally flipping orientation in the midst of a call.

What to watch next as Google tests Expressive Calling

This is based on code currently in progress, so plans can change and things may arrive later, differently, or not at all. Keep an eye out for Google Phone app server-side flags toggling to life, changelog mentions in upcoming betas, and possibly early exposure to the Pixel flagships. If what ships is anything like what’s envisioned, Expressive Calling could lend the humble phone call just a little extra smarts — and truly critical calls that much more impossible to ignore.