Google Contacts for Android gets a modern scroll bar

Abner Li | Oct 25 2024 - 9:09 am PT

While Google Contacts is otherwise a good example of a modern Material You app, my one design quibble has been the blocky scroll bar. This has finally been addressed as part of a broader tweak to the main Contacts tab.

Previously, the scroll bar in the Contacts tab that appeared as you navigated through the list was rectangular and relatively wide (depending on page length) with a persistent track as you moved through the page. Dating back to older versions of Android, It looked out of place with the equivalent Contacts list in the Phone app that featured a thinner, more modern design.

Google Contacts now uses a pill-shaped scroll bar that has Dynamic Color theming (like the one in the Pixel Launcher’s app drawer) with no track container. One interesting difference to the Phone app version is how the scroll bar goes all the way down instead of ending just above the FAB.

Old vs. new

Meanwhile, another change to Google Contact is how the first letter column has been removed and integrated into the main list. Since the separation is now less apparent, you might be using the scroll bar a bit more.

It’s a more inline and edge-to-edge design, but most entries aren’t that long to really benefit. That said, you might have some business names that do stretch.

The overflow menu has also been removed from the search bar. Just long-press on a contact to “Select,” while “Select all” can be accessed after that.

This modern scroll bar and tweak to the main list is rolling out as a server-side update (Force stop from App info) with version 4.42 of Google Contacts.