Notification Lights On Google Pixel Phones Are Leaving Users Unimpressed

The Google Pixel 11 Pro HiLight presents itself with a sleek design and unique feature — the ability to light up certain colors while face down to indicate a favorite contact is calling you, or to ensure Gemini is listening when you make a verbal request. The HiLight LED later received a cool new feature which tacked on messages as an additional trigger for its light indicator, although this is still only available on the beta channel. However, it seems the feature doesn't entirely live up to the promise of its premise and has left some hopeful owners rather disappointed.

A major complaint among HiLight owners is that the device offers a limited color selection for them to assign to their contacts. The device was initially held back by a meager five color choices. Although outlets like Android Authority provided some hope with news of future updates introducing more options, some HiLight users pointed out that, though it has the hardware capabilities to support them now, Google is seemingly rolling out new color options at a sluggish pace, rather than making them available all at once. "Drip feeding new colors as a feature is absolutely insane," another Redditor wrote. "The hardware is there, they're just choosing to tease the people who spent over a rack on their phone." Thus, like other modern tech products marred by missed potential and slow updates, the HiLight has proven to be one of the more disappointing tech products in 2026.

As useful as the Google Pixel 11 Pro HiLight's LED-based notification features could be, some owners consider it more gimmicky than practical. Its novel qualities may explain why Google hasn't given the feature as much love as it could. "Genuinely would be a good feature if I could use it for anything," one Reddit user said. Others who claimed they never leave their smart phone face down said they had little need for the HiLight's signature feature, given the Pixel 11's always-on display shows notifications on the screen.

Some Redditors compared it to the Pixel Pro's previous thermometer feature that has been replaced by HiLight. The thermometer used a contactless temperature sensor to detect heat from individual objects. The feature was accessible on the Google Pixel 8 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro, Pixel 9 Pro XL, Pixel 10 Pro, and Pixel 10 Pro XL. Though it may have seemed like an arbitrary feature at launch, some users found the outgoing functionality more useful than the HiLight. "At first I thought the thermometer was a gimmick when it was first announced, but afterwards I started finding it useful and use it often now," one Reddit user wrote. "I'm sad they got rid of it, but it's not like I would have upgraded my phone this year even if they kept it for the 11." Thus, some Google Pixel followers may find the HiLight's prioritization over other, more useful features to be all the more disheartening.