Google Contacts is the default app to manage and add contacts on all the best Android smartphones. It has undoubtedly been a little late to gain some fundamental features, such as an easier way for Workspace users to add/edit contacts on the web. Back in March, we received the first hint about birthday reminders coming to Contacts in some form within the Highlights tab’s new For you section. Then there was the ability to add birthday notifications within individual contacts a couple of weeks later. Now, some Contacts users are seeing a new Add birthdays card within the For You section.
The feature was spotted by 9to5Google, who believe it was enabled with version 4.7.26.x of Contacts. However, the publication acknowledges that it may not have widely rolled out for all users just yet, and we can only corroborate the new additions on some of our phones. Even if you’re on the latest iteration of Google Contacts, the visibility might still be restricted to a few users.
The Add birthdays button takes you to a list view of all the contacts, with a cake icon next to those who don’t have a birthday added yet. Additionally, when enabled, one could head over to an individual contact and open the overflow menu on the top right to access the Add birthday notification button.
Meanwhile, it looks like the list view of contacts’ birthdays can’t be accessed outside the new Add birthdays card within Highlights. We can only hope that this will be simpler to access in the future, as it’s not clear how you would get there once you dismiss the card.
Among the recent additions to Google Contacts were Material You home screen widgets with a focus on the people closest to you. Then there was also the addition of contact images within Chats and a much-improved tablet interface of the app. Google Calendar, which has been starved of birthday-related features, could also get its own version of birthday reminders soon, duplicating functionality in typical Google fashion.
