There's a new feature coming to the Google Phone and Contacts apps that take a leaf out of iPhone's playbook.
Calling Cards will allow you to customise how a contact appears when they call you, allowing for a full-screen background rather than just a small profile picture.
It was only yesterday we wrote about Google rolling out an update for its Photos app that will see a 'Create' tab added to the bottom, and now there's another Google app that seems to be getting some love.
As reported by 9to5Google, the Google Phone and Contacts apps are getting customisable "Calling Cards", not too dissimilar from the Contact Poster feature iPhone users got back in 2023.
Google's Calling Cards are said to be appearing for some beta users so they aren't widely available as yet, but they allow you see a full-screen image as a background when someone calls rather than just a small profile picture in the middle of your screen.
What are Google Calling Cards?
According to the report on 9to5Google, at the moment, the Calling Cards are slightly different to Contact Posters on iPhone in that they don't allow you to create something everyone sees. Google Messages does let you set an image like this, however, so it's thought Calling Cards could have this functionality in future.
For now, when the Calling Cards feature becomes available to you, opening a contact page will prompt you to "try adding a calling card: Customise how [contact name] appears during calls", the 9to5Google report says. You will be able to pick an image from your camera, gallery or Google Photos, adjust the position and then add a font and colour for the name.
The colours available include the following – Autumn Orange, Black, Blush Pink, Dark Green, Dark Purple, Gentle Blue, Greenish Yellow, Lavender, Lavender Two, Navy, Orangy Yellow, Raspberry Pink, Red, Reddish Orange, Royal Blue, Seafoam Green, Smart Color, Vivid Cyan, White, Yellow Green. There's also a "Smart Colour" option, it's said, which will likely allow you to colour pick from the image you choose.
9to5Google says the Calling Cards feature is appearing in the Phone by Google 188 beta. Meanwhile, Contacts 4.61 has rolled out with Material 3 Expressive, the report says.
