Google could soon let you bring Santa into your phone calls (APK teardown)

4 hours ago 1
Audio Emoji on a Pixel phone

Hadlee Simons / Android Authority

TL;DR

  • We’ve uncovered two festive Audio Emoji sounds coming to the Google Phone app.
  • One is a Christmas-themed Audio Emoji while the other option is a New Year’s-themed sound.
  • We’re guessing these sounds will roll out in early to mid-December.

Google introduced Audio Emojis to its Phone app earlier this year, basically giving you a soundboard for your phone calls. We’ve already seen the company offering a Halloween-themed Audio Emoji, and it’s now working on festive options.

You're reading an Authority Insights story on Android Authority. Discover Authority Insights for more exclusive reports, app teardowns, leaks, and in-depth tech coverage you won't find anywhere else.

An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.

We dug into a beta version of the Phone by Google app (version 155.0.697690833-publicbeta-pixel2024) and were able to activate two festive-themed Audio Emoji options. Check out the clip below to listen to them (albeit with minor slowdown due to screen recording).

The first new Audio Emoji is a New Year-themed sound, featuring fireworks, a cheering crowd, and party horns. Meanwhile, the second Audio Emoji is Christmas-themed, with festive/sleigh bells and Santa saying “ho ho ho.” Either way, this could be a fun addition to your phone calls during the festive season.

It’s also worth noting that the Halloween Audio Emoji has now been removed from this version of the Phone app. But we hope this becomes an annual tradition, so fingers crossed that we see it in October 2025.

Got a tip? Talk to us! Email our staff at [email protected]. You can stay anonymous or get credit for the info, it's your choice.

Read Entire Article