Google Contacts is the default contacts app on someAndroid devices, including Pixel phones. Its functionality is no longer basic as Google routinely updates the app withnew visual elementswhile also making functionality-related improvements from time to time. The ability to set custom ringtones for each contact has existed for as long as we can remember, but developers are now seemingly working on adding a new home for ringtones within the Google Contacts Settings page.
Situated within theFix & managetab, this newly surfacedRingtonesoption was first spotted on version4.22.37.586680692by the ever-reliableGAppsLeaks page on Telegram. In its current form, setting a ringtone for a particular contact requires you to open their contact card, press the three-dot menu, and tapSet ringtoneto set things in motion. This new option sits within the Fix & manage tab’sOther Toolssection right belowFamily groupandBlocked numbers.
Current layout of the Fix & manage tab (left); The newly uncovered Ringtones option within Fix & manage (right)
In addition to serving as a more convenient way of setting ringtones for your contacts, this new page also gives you a list of all the custom contact ringtones you’ve set. There’s also a play button next to each contact, as shown below, while the name of the ringtone is specified under each contact. Any custom ringtone set by the user for a contact in the past would also appear here, according to AssembleDebug.
This is undoubtedly a better way of managing ringtones than the current solution, which requires users to open each contact card to know if there’s a custom ringtone set for them. But it’s unclear if this latest addition will fully replace the existing method via the three-dot menu or merely serve as an alternative. The source didn’t specify if there was a flag or two that needed to be flipped to make this appear but deemed it a “work in progress,” indicating that we’re still some distance away from seeing it more widely.
Unlike someother Google apps, we usually don’t get to see a ton of feature additions on the Contacts app. But that doesn’t mean the company won’t make small tweaks aimed at enhancing user experience.
We came across one suchunder-development change in mid-October, wherein some of the core options were rearranged to the bottom of the screen for easier accessibility on larger screens. This also involved the removal of chips below the search bar, which were pretty hard to reach while operating the phone with one hand. But since neither of these changes has appeared on the Contacts app just yet, we wonder if the newly surfaced Ringtones option will also follow the same route.
