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Google is preparing a cool new feature for its Pixel Recorder app

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The Voice Recorder app running on the Google Pixel 7 Pro.
Voice Recorder Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Smartphones are great tools for voice recording, whether it’s a simple voice memo or even an interview. If you have a Pixel phone, then the Pixel Recorder app is about to get a lot more useful with a new “Clear Voice” feature discovered in the latest update’s Android Package Kit (APK).

With Clear Voice, the Pixel Recorder app will “reduce background noise while recording for clearer speech playback.” Basically, it will keep human speech while removing unwanted and distracting background noise. The feature was found via 9to5Google in some strings in version 4.2.20241001.701169069 of the Pixel Recorder app.

  • <string name=”hdmic_setting_title”>Clear Voice</string>
  • <string name=”hdmic_setting_summary”>Reduce background noise while recording for clearer speech playback. External mic and stereo are not supported.</string>
  • <string name=”hdmic_tooltip_with_learn_more”>Keep human speech and remove background sounds. Learn more in Settings.</string>
  • <string name=”not_mono_channel”>This action requires mono audio. Please change your audio channels to mono.</string>
  • <string name=”off_for_new_recordings”>Clear Voice is off for new recordings</string>
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However, there’s one catch with the new Clear Voice function: it will only work with the Pixel’s internal microphone and only with mono audio. So, any external microphones and stereo audio will not be supported by the feature, which is referred to as “hdmic” in the code.

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However, even if you sideload the latest version, don’t expect to find the feature in Pixel Recorder right now — a server-side component is required for the Clear Voice feature to work.

The Recorder app on the Google Pixel Watch 3.
The Pixel Recorder app on the Pixel Watch 3 Andy Boxall / Digital Trends

Clear Voice sounds like a welcome feature to Pixel Recorder, which has only seen a few significant updates this year. The biggest new feature is the Summarize feature that can be used on longer transcripts thanks to Gemini Nano with multimodality on the Google Pixel 9 lineup. There was another update that brought Pixel Recorder to the Pixel Watch 3 and older models, allowing users to record voice memos from their wrist.

Again, it appears that Clear Voice is being prepared to ship, but it’s not available right now. It still requires a server-side component, and it is unknown when Google will activate it. Still, once this feature does go live, it should make the already great Recorder app even better. Definitely keep an eye out for this one.

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Christine Romero-Chan
Christine Romero-Chan
Staff Writer, Mobile
Christine Romero-Chan has been writing about technology, specifically Apple, for over a decade. She graduated from California…
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