Rumors suggest Google is developing a 'Pixel Besties' feature that will aggregate messages and calls from select contacts across various platforms like WhatsApp, Google Messages, and Facebook Messages. This feature would provide a centralized hub for communication with favored contacts, similar to features offered by HTC and BlackBerry in the past.
Over the years, there have been several attempts to create a feature for a phone that would consolidate all of a user's social media accounts and have all messages and content sent to the user surface in one place. HTC's Sense user interface 'kind of sort of' had this with BlinkFeed. This feature allowed a user to view all of his social media content and content from other favored sources (news, calendar, weather, etc.) in one location.
This saved the user from having to open multiple apps to stay updated. BlackBerry was also close to offering a social media aggregation feature with its BlackBerry Hub. The latter would show users their SMS and BBM messages along with their social media feeds, and the latest updates from contacts all found in one inbox. Like HTC Sense, BlackBerry OS is no more. There are persistent rumors that Google is about to launch a new feature called 'Pixel Besties' for its Pixel smartphones. This feature, according to reports, will allow users to aggregate messages and calls from select contacts, much like the HTC Sense BlinkFeed and the BlackBerry Hub. The feature will reportedly be integrated with a new app called 'Pixel Relationship' and could even have a widget that displays aggregated bestie messages from Google Messages and WhatsApp directly on the Pixel user's home screen. The latest whispers about 'Pixel Besties' come from a WhatsApp API content provider found in the WhatsApp v2.25.3.22 beta. This API allows WhatsApp to share and post information about messages and calls related to 'Pixel Besties'. It's expected that similar API content providers will appear in Google Messages and Facebook Messages apps, allowing them to feed into this centralized 'besties' view. Once this aggregator becomes available, Pixel users will be able to add favored contacts to a dedicated 'besties' list. WhatsApp API content provider sends info about WhatsApp calls and messages related to Pixel Besties to the feature. | Image credit-Android Authority Once a contact is added to the 'besties list,' any messages sent to you by this contact from a supported platform will be put into a unified view with messages and calls highlighted. WhatsApp could be the first supported platform.
Google Pixel Pixel Besties Social Media Aggregation Whatsapp Google Messages Facebook Messages Communication
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