- Google is again allowing users to set names and profile pictures for their contacts in Google Messages
- In 2024, the app transitioned to a social media-style profile system
- Profile sharing is apparently still possible
Google has announced that users of its Messages app will be able to set names and photos for their contacts again in 2024 after the app switches to a social media profile system.
As 9to5Google notes, Profile Sharing (originally called Profile Discovery) rolled out to Messages users starting in March 2024, replacing the names and contact pictures associated with a user's contacts with information from their contacts' Google Accounts.
Google then implemented the “Customize How You Are Appeared” page in Messages, a non-skippable process that leaned even more closely into the style of self-expression on social platforms.
Although the decision to make profile sharing the only way to set names and contact photos has been reversed, users can apparently still choose to use their contacts' preferred information – there is no indication that profile sharing will be phased out entirely became.
Customizing contact information is pretty easy, as you'd expect: you simply tap a contact's name or photo in chat, opening a page with user details, which can then be updated manually.
The addition of profile sharing was originally announced in November 2023 and can be seen as part of Google's efforts to present a functionally similar competitor to Apple's iMessage.
As we previously reported, the gap between the two platforms is starting to narrow as Apple introduces RCS (Rich Communication Services) – a standard that enables easy media sharing and group chats similar to its own iMessage standard.
Google has long championed RCS as a forward-thinking and collaborative standard, and even publicly celebrated its competitor's decision to implement RCS on the iPhone.
In addition, numerous new messaging tools were integrated into Google's default messaging app in late 2024 to protect users from scammers and spammers, such as warnings about dangerous links, blur filters for offensive images, and better contact verification.
It's clear that Google is interested in making Messages the texting app of choice for Android users – this apparently includes allowing people to use mugshots of their friends and family as profile photos.