Google Fi is getting AI-powered noise filters and RCS web messaging

Google announced several upgrades and new features coming to its Google Fi Wireless phone plans, including an update to web calls and messages with a new interface that now fully supports RCS messaging so you can share high-quality photos and videos in message threads, even when your phone isn’t nearby. That functionality is expected to be available in early December at no extra cost.

Call quality is being improved, specifically when you’re talking to someone in a noisy environment where distracting background noises could make you harder to hear. In mid-November, Google Fi will start using Google AI to automatically filter out unwanted noises and to enhance and clarify voices on both ends of a call, even when one participant is using a landline or an aging cellphone. The filters will be applied automatically, but the feature can be turned off entirely.

Google Fi is also expanding the availability of its Wi-Fi Auto Connect Plus feature that automatically connects your phone to “select secure, high quality Wi-Fi networks” to improve your mobile data connection in indoor areas where cellular coverage is low. The feature will now be available in “tens of millions of locations” across the US, including shopping malls, stores, and major airports like LAX, ORD, and JFK. It comes with no extra costs and keeps data secure using a VPN, but is only available for Pixel 5a smartphones and newer.

To make subscribers’ monthly bills easier to understand, the support features in the Google Fi mobile app are being upgraded with Google AI to generate billing summaries that explain charges, month-to-month changes, and how “plan adjustments” could affect what you’ll be paying down the line. Alongside all the new features, Google Fi is launching a limited-time promotion for new subscribers who already have a phone with a 50 percent discount for 15 months on the Unlimited Essentials or Unlimited Standard plans.