Google Contacts redesign adds bottom bar to better surface tools, rolling out now

Abner Li | Mar 14 2022 - 9:00 am PT

The majority of Google’s apps today feature a bottom bar and Contacts for Android is now the latest to add it as part of a redesign that retains a modified navigation drawer.

The first tab is of course your list of “Contacts.” It’s quite straightforward and the floating action button (FAB) position is unchanged – like in Tasks, Google could have integrated the FAB into the center of the bottom bar.

App settings can be accessed by tapping your profile avatar in the top-right corner. A fully Material You bottom bar is leveraged from the height to the tap animations.

Google has retained the navigation drawer, but it’s just home to the switcher that lets you see “All accounts” or just the current one. This is followed by any “Labels” and the ability to create them.

The other items (“Merge & fix” and “Trash”) have been moved to the new “Fix & manage” tab that has a grid of actions, like the Library tab in Google Photos: Merge & fix, Import from SIM, Restore contacts, Important from file, Export to file, Trash, and Settings. Many of these actions were previously at the bottom of the settings menu under “Manage contacts.” Lastly, an “Other tools” section houses Emergency contacts and Blocked numbers.

Despite how silly the two-tab bottom bar looks, the app’s new second page is quite prominent and works to highlight actions that people will occasionally want to use.

We’re only seeing this bottom bar redesign (h/t Android Police) on one phone with version 3.63.2.x of Google Contacts. It’s not yet widely rolled on other devices we checked this morning.