{"slug": "google-pixel-11-pros-hilight-feature-is-a-good-start-but-it-shouldnt-be-pro", "title": "Google Pixel 11 Pros HiLight feature is a good start, but it shouldnt be Pro-exclusive", "summary": "Google's Pixel 11 Pro and Pro Fold feature a new HiLight notification system that lights up in different colors when the phone is face down, but the feature is exclusive to Pro models, a decision criticized by Mashable's Alex Perry. The base Pixel 11 lacks the notification functionality despite having the same circular module in its camera bar. HiLight currently supports phone calls with custom colors and a rainbow pattern for Gemini, but not text messages.", "body_md": "# Google Pixel 11 Pro's HiLight feature is a good start, but it shouldn't be Pro-exclusive\n\n[Alex Perry](/author/aperry)\n\n[yelix.bsky.social](http://yelix.bsky.social).\n\n[Read Full Bio](/author/aperry)\n\nIn an era of software innovations, [Google](https://mashable.com/category/google) has one neat hardware trick in the [Pixel 11](https://mashable.com/tech/google-pixel-11-announced-made-by-google-2026) lineup. It's a shame it's not part of the whole lineup, though.\n\nGoogle lifted the veil off the Pixel 11 series on Wednesday morning as part of its [Made by Google](https://mashable.com/tech/made-by-google-pixel-11-pro-xl-fold-watch-updates) event. Between anxiety around price increases and intrigue surrounding new AI features, one new hardware addition stood out: the HiLight feature. Available on the [Pixel 11 Pro](https://mashable.com/tech/google-pixel-11-pro-announced-made-by-google) and [Pro Fold](https://mashable.com/tech/made-by-google-pixel-11-pro-fold-annoucement) devices, this is a new notification system that communicates things to the user when the phone is turned on its face.\n\nI got to briefly try out HiLight at a press event before the announcement, and came away thinking it had potential. Unfortunately, some of that potential is being squandered by device exclusivity, for now.\n\n**You May Also Like**\n\n## Google Pixel 11 Pro HiLight hands-on: A cool feature that should be in every Pixel 11 phone\n\nI feel a primer is in order, given that HiLight is a brand-new Pixel 11 feature. In short, it's a small circular light module that sits in the rear camera bar of the Pixel 11 Pro and Pixel 11 Pro Fold. At first, it doesn't look like anything fancy, but it's hiding a neat secret.\n\nPut simply, HiLight will light up in different colors to notify the phone's owner that something is happening on the phone while the device lies face down. If you're locked in at work and don't want to be distracted, but you still want to know if you're getting an important phone call, HiLight will do the trick.\n\n[Terms of Use](https://www.ziffdavis.com/terms-of-use)and\n\n[Privacy Policy](https://www.ziffdavis.com/ztg-privacy-policy).\n\nHiLight is, in fact, mostly used for phone calls at this time, as far as I can tell. You can go into your contacts and assign custom light colors to individual people. I don't have a full list of colors in front of me at this time, but there were no more than six or seven options. However, as someone who is mildly color deficient, I very much appreciated it when an on-site Google rep informed me that the colors were chosen to avoid confusion for people like me. The ones I saw all looked pretty distinct, though every color-deficient person's eyes work differently.\n\nStrangely, HiLight does not seem to work with text messages at this point. I was told that new functionality will come in the future, though. The only other use case I was shown for HiLight was that it will light up in a rainbow pattern when Gemini is in use.\n\nSmartphone enthusiasts will immediately recognize this as being inspired by [Nothing's](https://mashable.com/review/nothing-4a-pro) hardware design over the years. That company has been making phones with light patterns on the rear side for years, for this same purpose. However, those tend to be bigger, more gaudy, and more feature-rich than HiLight is so far. I appreciate how visually modest HiLight is, though the functionality seems a bit thin at launch.\n\n[How to watch Made By Google 2026](/tech/how-to-watch-made-by-google-2026-pixel-11-livestream-event)\n\nAll of that is fine and good, but one thing I don't understand at this juncture is why HiLight isn't available on the base Pixel 11 phone. The same circular object is still present in the camera bar (presumably a camera flash module), but it doesn't light up for notifications as it does on Pro devices. I think HiLight is cool, but it would make a much bigger impression if every Pixel 11 owner could use it.\n\nConsidering the base Pixel 11 is closer than ever to a Pro experience thanks to the recent addition of a telephoto lens, maybe Google felt the need to distinguish the two models a little bit more this year. That said, I hope the Pixel 12 rectifies this.\n\n*Want to learn more about getting the best out of your tech? Sign up for Mashable's *\n\n__Top Stories and Deals newsletters__\n\n*or*\n\n__get Mashable push alerts__*today.*\n\nAlex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. Alex can be found on Bluesky at [yelix.bsky.social](http://yelix.bsky.social).", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-pixel-11-pros-hilight-feature-is-a-good-start-but-it-shouldnt-be-pro", "canonical_source": "https://mashable.com/tech/google-pixel-11-pro-fold-hilight-feature-hands-on-impressions", "published_at": "2026-08-12 15:57:24+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-12 16:40:16.528412+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-products"], "entities": ["Google", "Pixel 11 Pro", "Pixel 11 Pro Fold", "Pixel 11", "HiLight", "Gemini", "Mashable", "Alex Perry"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-pixel-11-pros-hilight-feature-is-a-good-start-but-it-shouldnt-be-pro", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-pixel-11-pros-hilight-feature-is-a-good-start-but-it-shouldnt-be-pro.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-pixel-11-pros-hilight-feature-is-a-good-start-but-it-shouldnt-be-pro.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/google-pixel-11-pros-hilight-feature-is-a-good-start-but-it-shouldnt-be-pro.jsonld"}}