Adamya Sharma / Android Authority
TL;DR
- The Google Contacts app could soon get a new feature that will make it easier to remove associated Google accounts.
- The feature is currently in development, but we’ve managed to enable it in the latest version of the app.
- Google is also working on a minor UI tweak for contact pages that makes a few useful options easier to find.
Google is working on a new feature for its Contacts app that could make it easier to remove associated Google accounts. The company is also testing a UI change for contact pages that makes a few settings more accessible.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
We’ve managed to enable the upcoming feature and UI change ahead of the official rollout in Google Contacts version 4.35. The following screenshots show that the option to use Google Contacts without an account will appear in the account settings menu that pops up when you tap on your profile picture in the top right corner.
Selecting the new option will bring up a disclaimer stating that the feature will disable contact syncing and remove synced contacts from the device. It adds that synced contacts will still be available on the previously linked Google account, and users will have the option to get them back on the device by adding the account back to the app.
It’s worth noting that you can get the same results by disabling Google Contact sync in your Google account settings. However, the current process isn’t as straightforward and does not disconnect your Google account from the Contacts app. The new toggle should make things a whole lot simpler for those who want to use the Contacts app without syncing contacts from their Google account.
The in-development contact page UI change also aims to make things simpler for end users by making a few options more accessible. Currently, the options to share a contact, add it to your home screen, delete it, and move it to another account are hidden within the three-dot menu on the contact page.
As you can see, Google plans to move these settings to the bottom of the contact page, alongside the Reminders, Block numbers, and Route to voicemail options. Since this is a relatively minor change, it could arrive sooner than the option to use Google Contacts without an account.
