Can’t make phone calls via Gemini on your Pixel? You’re not alone.

You don’t have to manually search for a contact if you’d like to make a call on your Android phone, as you can simply tell Gemini to call them. Unfortunately, it looks like this feature is broken on some Pixel phones.

Some Pixel owners on Reddit (1, 2) have confirmed that Gemini refuses to make phone calls when asked to do so. Instead, Gemini displays an error message with the title “Communications Tool Disabled.”

“Using the communications tool is currently disabled. I cannot make calls for you,” reads the error message, according to a screenshot seen below by Redditor Probono_Bonobo (great username).

Another Redditor reported a different error message as Gemini purportedly said it “can’t call the contact” and asked if the user needed more help.

Some users have suggested a few workarounds for the issue. This includes switching the default assistant to Google Assistant and then switching back to Gemini, clearing the cache and storage for the Google and Gemini apps, and disabling then re-enabling Gemini’s access to the Phone app (via settings > Connected Apps).

For what it’s worth, I’m still able to call contacts via Gemini on my Pixel 7 Pro. I have automatic app updates disabled on my phone, but the functionality still worked when I updated to the most recent beta versions of the Google/Gemini and Phone apps. Colleague Aamir Siddiqui was also able to confirm that the feature is working on the Pixel 9 Pro XL. This suggests that the problem doesn’t affect all Pixel owners. Nevertheless, the number of people reporting this problem does suggest that it’s not necessarily an isolated issue.

It’s also worth noting that a couple of colleagues found that Gemini couldn’t place phone calls via the OnePlus 15 and Xiaomi 15 Ultra. This doesn’t appear to be a widespread issue affecting Xiaomi and OnePlus devices, as we’re not seeing any significant reports of this problem online.