Gboard’s new proofreading tools secretly come to old Pixel phone

AI features are central to Google’s new Pixel 10 phones, but we always knew those tricks wouldn’t stay stranded on Google’s latest phones. Gboard’s Writing Tools is one of these, having debuted on the Pixel 10, and then coming to the Pixel 9 shortly after release.

Google has a list of the phones that Writing Tools works with, and it includes some phones other than just Pixel phones. However, it doesn’t include the Pixel 8 Pro — which is odd, as a Telegram user has realized their Pixel 8 Pro has access to Writing Tools (via Android Authority).

Writing Tools has arrived on the Pixel 8 Pro

An unexpected addition

Writing Tools is largely self-explanatory. It allows Gboard to take whatever you’ve written, and re-write it for you to match a new tone or just proofread what you’ve written. Think of it as Grammarly, but built into your phone, and you’re not far wrong. It’s only officially available on the Pixel 10 and Pixel 9-series as far as Google’s phones go, but it seems that it’s already spread to older phones.

Telegram user Mahanadhi Parisara has noticed his Pixel 8 Pro now has Writing Tools, after downloading the latest Gboard v15.9.1 beta release.

Google had previously mentioned that Writing Tools would be expanding to other phones, and looking at Google’s official site for Writing Tools, it’s clear that has happened. Aside from Google’s own phones, Writing Tools has come to a number of other phones, including those from Motorola, Honor, OnePlus, and Realme. The official list of supported phones is as follows:

• Pixel: 9, 9 Pro, 9 Pro XL, 10, 10 Pro, 10 Pro XL
• Honor: Magic 7 Pro, Magic 7
• Motorola: Razr 60 Ultra
• OnePlus: 13, 13s
• OPPO: Find X8, Find X8 Pro, Reno14 Pro
• POCO: F7 Ultra, X7 Pro
• realme: GT 7 Pro, GT 7T
• vivo: X200, X200 Pro
• Xiaomi: 15 Ultra, 15

That’s a pretty large list of supported devices, so it wouldn’t surprise us at all if Google was looking to spread its new AI features to more Pixel devices. An interesting note, as spotted by Android Authority, is Google’s page for Writing Tools used to contain the footnote that “Gemini Nano v2 or higher” is required for the feature to work. That footnote has been removed, which could imply that the restriction has been overcome.

Of course, this could simply be that the beta software has accidentally enabled the feature on a phone that was never meant to have it — but it seems far more likely that this, and other AI tools, are on the way to the Pixel 8 Pro at the very least.