Google Contacts 1.5 update includes a complete redesign, labels, and duplicate contact removal

With Google, it’s hit or miss when it comes to how the company designs its apps. It’s also common that a product of Google’s such as Contacts might have a feature on one platform but not on another. With this update to its stock Contacts app, however, users gain the ability to add labels and remove duplicate contacts right from our device.

Before the 1.5 update, Google Contacts had a three section interface that allowed you to swipe left or right to get to different information such as your favorites and groups. With this latest update, we get the famous hamburger menu system. What this means is that the main screen will list nothing but your contacts. Of course, you can add a new contact using the floating action button or click on the search icon in the upper right-hand side of the screen to quickly find a contact. Everything else is now hidden behind the hamburger menu.

When you open the menu, you are greeted with several new additions. The first of which are labels. Using Contacts’ web application, you are able to categorize and group your contacts together with labels but this never made its way to devices. Now, you can add labels as well as see the different groups that you have created right in the menu.

Additionally, you now have the ability to see and remove duplicate contacts that are taking up space on your device. Contacts will offer suggestions on what might be duplicated and you will be able to dismiss it altogether or link the two, making a single contact for that person.

The Google Contacts 1.5 update is currently rolling out on the Google Play Store but if you want it now, you can download and install the .apk manually directly from APKMirror.