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Google Phone app brings back Contacts bottom bar tab

Last year’s Material 3 Expressive redesign of the Phone by Google app removed the Contacts tab, but it’s now coming back.

The August 2025 update simplified app navigation to Home, Keypad, and Voicemail. The Contacts tab was moved to the navigation drawer, with another access point as part of the Favorites carousel at the top of the main feed.

Google is now reverting the main change, with Contacts reappearing as a tab between Home and Keypad. The navigation drawer shortcut has been removed, while all the other ways to access it remain.

It’s a straightforward addition that presumably reflects how much people use the dialer application for contacts access.

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This Contacts tab is slowly rolling out in the Phone by Google beta (version 240+) and is not yet widely available for testers.

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Avatar for Abner Li Abner Li

Editor-in-chief. Interested in the minutiae of Google and Alphabet. Tips/talk: abner@9to5g.com