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How to use quick phrases on your Pixel phone to save you time and effort

If you want a more efficient interaction with Google Assistant, you’ll want to enable quick phrases.

Written by Jack Wallen, Contributing Writer on

The outer display of the Google Pixel Fold — June Wan/ZDNET

What if when your phone alarm goes off, instead of having to pick up your phone and tap the stop button, you could simply say, “Stop,” to turn it off? Thanks to quick phrases, you can.

With this feature enabled, snoozing an alarm is as easy as saying, “Snooze.” As for phone calls, with quick phrases enabled, you can answer an incoming call by saying, “Answer,” decline an incoming call by saying, “Decline,” and silence your ringer by saying, “Silence.”

Also: Google just ‘leaked’ the unreleased Pixel 8 Pro, and fans of this color will be delighted

It really is that simple.

But how do you enable quick phrases? Well, thanks to Google Assistant, it’s pretty easy. Let me show you how.

How to enable Google Assistant quick phrases on your Pixel

What you’ll need: The only thing you’ll need is a Pixel phone running at least Version 10 of Android. That’s it. Let’s make some magic.

1. Open Google Assistant

The first thing you need to do is access the settings for Google Assistant. It should come as no surprise that you can do this with the help of Google Assistant. For this, say, “Hey, Google, Assistant settings.”

2. Enable Quick phrases

In the resulting window, you should see two ON/OFF toggles, one for alarms and timers, and one for incoming calls. Chances are pretty good that the “Quick phrases” option for alarms and timers is already enabled. If so, leave it as such.

For incoming calls, tap the ON/OFF slider to the ON position. Once you’ve done that, you can back out of the Google Assistant settings window and start using quick phrases.

A bit of a caveat

If you don’t know your phone is ringing (say you have it on mute), and you say, “Answer,” at the same time, you could answer a call you didn’t want to take. Because of this, you’ll want to use caution in what you say around your Pixel phone when a call is coming in.

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The other issue is that someone else could answer your phone for you or decline a call for you by saying those commands. Because of that, you’ll want to consider your surroundings and the people you’re frequently with when you receive calls.

Other than that, Google’s quick phrases can really help make your Pixel life a bit more efficient. Give quick phrases a try and see if the feature doesn’t help make your life easier.