I downloaded the November Pixel Drop and all I got were Wicked theme packs

For the past few years, Pixel Drops have felt a bit like Christmas morning for me. A fresh new update with a bunch of exciting features to try out, some I’ve been waiting for for years, others I didn’t know I needed but I now couldn’t live without. There have been some duds, though — a few Drops that didn’t bring much or were shockfull of features I didn’t really care for. Nothing, though, comes close to this latest November Pixel Drop.

I’ve updated both my Pixel 10 Pro and Pixel 10 Pro XL, as well as my older Pixel 9 Pro and 9 Pro XL, just to make sure I wasn’t missing something, and I couldn’t tell you how underwhelmed I felt when the update notice popped up and all I got was… the Wicked theme pack?!

On paper, the update should’ve packed a ton of exciting new features, from notification helpers to call and message protections, passing by improvements to Pixel VIPs, and a fantastic new power-saving mode in Maps. In reality, the only thing the My Pixel app on my phone told me about was the Wicked theme pack. I even had to type that g.co/pixel/themes URL manually to download the app on my phone and test it out… and immediately disable it. I’m holding out hope for more theme packs and more customization, though, so I won’t judge this new feature for what it is now.

My Pixel was lying to me, though. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that the new Sound Matters sounds for ringtones, notifications, and alarma are available on my phones, too, under Settings > Sound and vibration. 

After a reboot, I also managed to get the new Notification summaries. They didn’t show up in the My Pixel app or the notification I received after the update, but the setting is there under Settings > Notifications > Notification summaries. I’ve enabled it, but I’m waiting for some friends to bombard me with a dozen messages to see how well it works. The one day you need that WhatsApp group to not shut up!

And Google Magnifier is, indeed, now available to download on my Pixel 9 Pro Fold and Pixel 10 Pro Fold. But that’s the extent of it. Everything else that was promised isn’t live yet.

After the disappointment settled in, I spent the better part of an hour going through the promised new features one by one to try and see whether they were available on my phones but hidden away like the new ringtones, or whether they weren’t even there yet. Was I missing something obvious?

Here’s what I discovered:

• Google Maps’s new power-saving mode, the feature I’m most excited to try, isn’t available to me yet. I have a Pixel 10 Pro and 10 Pro XL, both of which are supported. When I turn off my screen during driving navigation, I just get my phone’s regular AOD with the clock. I think this requires an update to the Maps app, which may or may not land soon.
• Remix in Google Messages isn’t live for me either. I suppose it’s also waiting for an app update.
• Scam Detection is supposedly expanding to more apps and should warn when it detects iffy wording in incoming messages from WhatsApp, Signal, and Twitter. It is, however, US only, so I can’t get it in France — one of the primary countries where Google officially sells its Pixel phones.
• Scam Detection during calls should also be expanded to more countries, but the new list doesn’t include France either.
• Call Notes also supposedly expanded to more countries, but once again, France isn’t on the list.
• Personalized edits in Photos are another US-only feature. (Its mother feature, Help Me Edit, is still US-only, too.)
• Pixel VIPs’s new prioritization made me scratch my head. I couldn’t really tell you if I have the feature or not, because Google doesn’t explain how it’s activated or if it even has a setting or not. What I know is that I’m still receiving messages from my husband and my mom — my two VIPs — like normal, and since there’s no crisis around them, I don’t know if the badges work or not.
• The new Notification organizer hasn’t rolled out to anyone yet. It should come next month, though, and in English only.

And finally, two features that were supposed to come to my Pixel 9 phones aren’t there yet. The new Device Health & Support diagnostics menu is nowhere in my Pixel 9 Pro nor my Pixel 9 Pro XL’s settings page, and as you can see in the screenshot above, the Pixel Journal app still says it’s not compatible with my Pixel 9 phones.

It is absolutely true that the feature rollout during Pixel Drops is often slow and unpredictable, but even then, this particular November Drop feels more egregious than all the ones that preceded it. More damning is the fact that there’s a single new menu item in the My Pixel app, taunting us all with its emptiness. Here, have some Wicked themes, guys; every other new feature is still ghosting you.

I’m not only one who thinks so, many Redditors have agreed that this November Drop was particularly poor. I’ll leave you with the words of u/Snakeskinarrow:

Mine updated yesterday, and all I got was the Wicked theme pack in my pixel drop. 9 ProXL in the US. Not sure what everyone else here got, but pretty disappointed in literally just a theme pack for a movie I don’t care about.