What you need to know
- Google Contacts now lets users change their Google Accounts photo from within the app.
- You used to only be able to do this from the Google app or Google Photos.
- The new functionality should be available in the latest version of the Google Contacts app.
Google Contacts is a pretty straightforward Android application that doesn't really need to rock the boat in terms of new features. It's simple enough and lets you sync between devices so you don't have to worry about losing your contacts. But one feature that has surprisingly not been present is the ability to change your Google Account photo from within the app. That's a feature that's arriving now in the latest version of the app.
XDA-Developers notes that the latest version of Google Contacts (version 3.38) now lets you select a contact photo and syncs it with your Google Account. Before, the Google Contacts app only synced with whatever photo you set from within your Google Account, and you would have to go through a few extra steps in order to make this happen. Instead of selecting the "manage your account" button under your profile name, the process is more streamlined, and you just have to tap your thumbnail to be taken to the selection screen.
This functionality was first spotted last year, hidden in the code of a previous version of the app, along with a new feature that saves discarded contacts in a trash bin for a selected period of time (as opposed to using the more roundabout way to restore contacts). The new version of the Google Contacts app should be rolling out to some users today, although it may depend on which smartphone you're using. It's likely that smartphones like Google Pixel 4a and 5 are already seeing this functionality.
