Automatic Call Screening arrived as a feature for the Pixel 4 with the very first Pixel Feature Drop, before rolling out more widely just this month to all Pixels. However, another feature that landed together with it seems to have disappeared for at least some of us: The option to save audio from those screened calls is gone on some devices.

When Automatic Call Screening first landed on the Pixel 4 in December, it also brought the option to save audio recorded during those screened calls for your later review, supplementing the transcripts it already saved. The new option lived in the Pixel's Phone app alongside other Call Screen settings (Phone -> 3-dot menu -> Settings -> Spam and Call Screen -> Call Screen -> Save Call Screen audio), but based on a reader's report, the feature seems to have disappeared from some Pixels.

Call Screen's save audio option on a Pixel 3 at rollout last week (left), missing now on a Pixel 4 (right).

We aren't sure how many devices may be affected, but we have confirmed the feature is currently missing on all the Pixel 4s we have immediate access to, as well as a Pixel 3 that got Call Screen in the recent rollout. We assume (but cannot verify) that the feature may also be missing for some on other Pixel devices. Google's support documents still make reference to saving recordings from Call Screen at the time of writing as well, so we assume this disappearance is a mistake. If you're among those affected, you'll have to stick with transcripts for now.

We have reached out to Google for more information about the missing feature, but at the time of writing, we have yet to hear back. If and when we get any more information, we'll be sure to let you know.

UPDATE: 2020/02/14 2:28pm PST BY STEPHEN SCHENCK

We're still not sure why Google disabled Call Screen audio recording as it did, but whatever the reasons were, Google seems to have had a change of heart, as we've started noticing the "save" option return to Call Screen settings.

Thanks: Yuval