Google is testing Call for Me, a feature that lets Gemini phone businesses on someone’s behalf, with an initial rollout to Pixel 11 owners in the United States who pay for a Gemini subscription, TechCrunch reported on 24 September. The experiment gives the assistant a task that cannot be completed by producing text alone: reaching a business, getting through to someone and conducting a conversation.
Key points
- The test initially requires a Pixel 11, a paid Gemini subscription and the beta version of Google’s Phone app for Android.
- Gemini can call about stock, reservations, appointments and items to be held, according to Google.
- Calls use the subscriber’s own number, with a live transcript and the option to take over.
Pixel 11 test moves Gemini into calls
The initial group must use the beta version of Google’s Phone app for Android as well as have the Pixel 11 and paid Gemini subscription. Those conditions keep the test within a particular combination of phone, app and account. Digital Trends reported that a request starts in the Gemini app: the person describes what needs doing, and Gemini handles the call.
Google says Gemini can ask a business whether a product is available, book a restaurant reservation, move an existing appointment or request that an item be held, TechCrunch reported. The last three tasks require more than retrieving an answer. They involve asking the business to make or change an arrangement, which gives the person at the other end a role in whether the request succeeds.
The calling sequence has several parts. Gemini can introduce itself, select options from an automated phone menu, remain on hold and then speak when the call reaches someone at the business. A menu choice gets the call to the right place, but it does not complete a reservation or change an appointment. For those tasks, the assistant must also handle the conversation that follows.
Checking whether a product is in stock could therefore begin with a request instead of a call placed by hand. If the business used a phone menu or put the call on hold, Gemini could work through those stages before asking about the item. The answer would still depend on what the business said during the call.
Call for Me keeps the transcript live
Call for Me places the call directly from the phone using the subscriber’s personal number. The number used by the assistant is therefore the number from which that person would make the call, rather than a separate number supplied for the conversation. That matters to the mechanics of the test: Gemini is speaking for someone whose own phone has dialled the business.
A live transcript lets the person follow the exchange as it happens, and the call can be taken over at any time. The arrangement leaves a way to intervene while Gemini is talking, rather than making the completed conversation the first opportunity to see what was said. It also puts the assistant’s handling of a menu, a wait on hold and the eventual exchange within the same visible call.
Google says Gemini can pass on personal information approved by the person requesting the call, TechCrunch reported. Approval is relevant to the tasks Google has named: moving an appointment or making a reservation may call for details that a simple question about stock would not. The feature combines that permission with the ability to watch the transcript and step into the conversation.
Google builds on Ask for Me
Google has been working on AI-assisted calling for years. At its I/O developer conference, it demonstrated Google Assistant phoning a salon to arrange a reservation, including spoken hesitations intended to make the exchange sound natural. That was a demonstration of a call. The present test puts Gemini on the phone for a limited group of subscribers with tasks that include changing an appointment already made.
In 2025, Google rolled out Ask for Me, which let Gemini contact businesses to ask about prices or services. Call for Me adds requests such as reservations and items to be held. For the businesses receiving those calls, the difference is practical: answering a question about a price is one kind of exchange, while agreeing to hold something or change a booking calls for an action at their end.
Other Pixel calling features handle portions of that journey. Hold for Me and Talk to a Live Rep can navigate phone trees and wait until someone answers. Direct My Call displays the numbers available in an automated phone system. Call for Me brings those preliminary stages into a call in which Gemini can also conduct the subsequent conversation with the business.
Google says it is beginning the experiment on a small scale because “real-world conversations are nuanced,” and that it needs time to get the feature right.
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