Google's new Call for Me feature does exactly what it sounds like

Your Google Pixel offers several handy Call Assist features baked right into the Phone by Google app, and that suite is set to grow by one starting today.

Joining the list alongside Call Screen, Hold for Me, Direct My Call, and more is a new AI-powered tool that wants to make entire phone calls on your behalf.

We spotted the feature in an early Phone by Google beta build earlier this week, and now, Google is making it official. Dubbed Call for Me, it does what Call Assist’s existing suite of tools can not.

For reference, Hold for Me helps by alerting you with a sound and vibration when hold music ends and a real human returns to the call. Direct My Call, on the other hand, helps you navigate call menus by transcribing and visualizing options on your screen.

Both options, however, require you to manually place the call in the first place and do the actual talking. If it wasn’t already evident from the name, that’s where Call for Me differs.

Limited to the Pixel 11, at least for now, Call for Me is powered by Gemini Intelligence. It lets you hand off routine phone calls to the AI tool, with no need for you to talk to anyone. For example, let’s say you just placed an order for one pizza and now want to update it to add another one. You’d be able to head to the Gemini app and tell the tool to call the restaurant and make the change for you.

The tech giant highlighted similar scenarios where you’d be able to ask Gemini to call a hardware store and check if it has a particular item in stock, reserve a patio seat at a restaurant, or reschedule appointments.

The new feature combines the best aspects of existing call tools. Call for Me will leverage Direct My Call when it has to navigate through complex call menus, and depend on Hold for Me when it’s put on hold. And when a real person does hop on the line, Gemini will initiate a conversation by introducing itself as an AI assistant and disclosing the fact that it is calling on your behalf.

Of course, you remain in control at all times, with a live transcript view and the option to take over the conversation at any point.

Google says it’s starting out small to get the experience right. Call for Me is rolling out as an early preview to US-based paid Gemini subscribers who are enrolled in the Phone by Google Public Beta on their Pixel 11 series device.