Google Messages could give you more customizable contacts once again (APK teardown)

Google recently introduced a Profile Discovery feature in Google Messages, which shows people your name and profile photo when they add you via your phone number. Unfortunately, this feature forces everyone to see your Google account photo in the messaging app rather than their own preferred image. Thankfully, it looks like Google will address this issue in the near future.

We dug into the Google Messages app (version messages.android_20241018_01_RC00.phone_samsung_openbeta_dynamic) and discovered that the app could let you choose between a contact’s Google account photo and a local/custom image.

We were able to activate this option, and it turns out you can simply tap on a contact’s profile image and then swipe laterally to switch between their Google account photo and a locally stored picture. The latter image can be changed by tapping “Manage in the Contacts app.” Check out the screenshots below, courtesy of LinkofHyrule89 on X.

We’re glad to see Google addressing this shortcoming, giving users a more customizable experience. This could be especially useful if a contact hasn’t set a Google account image in the first place, allowing you to give them a picture in your Messages app.

This isn’t the only Profile Discovery shortcoming Google is apparently planning to address in Messages. We recently discovered evidence that the app could give you more granular control over who can see your name and picture in the first place.