Google has begun rolling out a new communication feature within its Phone app that fundamentally changes how urgent calls are handled on Android devices.
The "Expressive Calling" feature, which includes a "Call Reason" functionality, now allows callers to mark their calls as urgent, enabling those calls to interrupt Do Not Disturb (DND) mode on receiving devices, a capability that has historically been limited to designated contacts and repeat callers.
The beta rollout started following Google's announcement at the beginning of December 2025.
The feature appears in Phone by Google beta version 203 and represents a significant evolution in call notification systems for Android users who maintain Do Not Disturb settings on their devices.
How Expressive Calling Works
When both the caller and recipient have the latest beta version of Phone by Google installed, a new interface element becomes available during outgoing calls.
The calling screen displays a "Mark call as urgent?" card positioned above standard call controls, allowing callers to tap a "Notify" button to indicate urgency before completing the call.
Users have multiple options for categorizing their calls. The Call Reason feature offers choices including "Catch up" (with a wave emoji), "News to share" (with a bell icon), "Quick question" (with a question mark), and "It's urgent" (with an animated siren emoji).
The non-urgent options provide context to the recipient about the nature of the call, while the urgent designation carries special capabilities regarding DND override.youtube
When a call is marked urgent, the recipient sees an "It's urgent!" message displayed prominently on their incoming call screen, accompanied by an animated siren emoji.
If the call is missed, the system records an "urgent" label in the call history, making it easier to identify time-sensitive communications that require a callback.
DND Override and User Control
The DND-breaking capability represents the most consequential aspect of Expressive Calling. Both visual and haptic feedback enhancements are enabled by default within the feature's settings, accessible through Phone Settings > General > Expressive Calling.
However, the critical permission—"Urgent call can interrupt Do Not Disturb"—remains optional, allowing users to maintain control over whether urgent calls can truly bypass their silence settings.
This design philosophy addresses privacy concerns by ensuring users retain agency over their notifications. Callers can indicate urgency, but only recipients who explicitly enable the DND-override setting will have their silence interrupted by marked urgent calls.
Android has long provided methods for certain contacts to bypass DND, such as designated favorites or the repeat caller exception (two calls within 15 minutes), but Expressive Calling introduces caller-initiated urgent signaling rather than recipient-determined exceptions.
Current Availability and Requirements
The feature remains limited to beta testers and requires both parties to operate on compatible versions of Phone by Google. Neither the caller nor the recipient can use the feature if only one side has access to the beta build.
This mutual requirement means widespread functionality depends on broader adoption of the beta version across multiple users and contacts.
At present, the rollout appears to focus primarily on Pixel devices, though the eventual scope remains unclear.
As the feature progresses through beta testing toward general availability, it may extend to other Android manufacturers, but no official announcement has specified a broader device distribution timeline.youtube
Design Rationale and Safety Implications
The urgent call feature addresses a genuine gap in mobile communication safety. Users who maintain Do Not Disturb mode around the clock—during sleep, meetings, or personal time—risk missing genuine emergencies or critical work situations.
Traditional methods of breaking through DND require recipients to preemptively add contacts to favorites or enable repeat caller allowances, which lacks nuance and flexibility.
The new system introduces a more granular approach: genuine emergencies can be communicated at the moment they occur, while routine social calls can be flagged as such, giving recipients permission to ignore them without guilt or worry about missing something critical.
The system's reliance on caller discretion does create potential for misuse, as nothing technically prevents someone from marking non-emergency calls as urgent. However, recipients retain the fundamental control to disable the feature entirely or adjust its settings.
Additional Context
This rollout coincides with broader improvements to Google's communication suite. The company simultaneously introduced Expressive Captions for live videos, which generates real-time captions with context cues for tone, ambient sounds, and emotional indicators like joy or sadness.
Google Messages now displays clearer warnings for unwanted group-chat invitations with one-tap dismissal actions, while the Circle to Search tool provides AI-backed scam detection directly from message contexts.
The Phone by Google stable version 202 has moved into general distribution, though certain refinements like the shortened bottom bar and "Keep portrait mode" setting remain exclusive to beta builds pending wider server-side deployment.
The Expressive Calling feature fundamentally shifts the responsibility for signaling call importance from recipients (who pre-designate trusted contacts) to callers (who indicate urgency in real-time).
As the feature progresses toward mainstream availability, it may establish new communication norms around when DND interruption is appropriate, balancing personal boundaries with genuine emergency response capabilities.youtube
