March 2023 Pixel Feature Drop changelog leaks out

Google’s usual window for the Pixel Feature Drop came and went this morning without a release, but details of the March 2023 update have now leaked out. 

Like in December, the Pixel Feature Drop now incorporates phones and the Watch. For the wearable, Fall Detection is the key/only addition mentioned. It’s rolling out via a server-side update, and is seeing wider availability as of last Friday.

Moving on to Pixel phones, there’s nothing too major. The Pixel 6 and 6 Pro are benefiting from how “Night Sight can now give you low-light photos even faster.” Google cites “new algorithms powered by the Google Tensor chip.” This “faster Night Sight” was first announced for the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, with Google noting in October how “Night Sight now only needs half of the normal exposure time to produce beautiful low-light images that are sharper than before.”

Continuing on that trend is Direct My Call availability for the Pixel 4a to Pixel 5a. 

The last feature of note is that Health Connect is now a preloaded app on Pixel with the March 2023 Feature Drop. This was a change made by Android 13 QPR2, with users previously having to download directly from the Play Store. 

Google also mentioned the recent expansion of Magic Eraser to all Pixel phone owners as part of the Google One announcement last month.

This information is coming from a Google changelog (thanks Michael!) used to update partners. In all likelihood, there will be other, smaller Pixel additions as part of the March 2023 Feature Drop that didn’t get included in this high-level overview.

As of Monday afternoon, Google has not yet announced when this update is officially coming, but we did get the February 2023 Google Play system update.

More on Pixel:

• February 2023 Google Play system update rolls out to Pixel in March
• Pixel Buds Pro and A-Series may soon be available in ‘Sky Blue’ to complement Pixel 7a [Gallery]
• Vodafone will adopt Google’s RCS in new deal that also puts Pixel in retail stores and more

Thanks Michael B.

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