Last year Google Contacts introduced the new Material You widgets and now plans to let you “See messages on your widget”.
About APK Insight: In this “APK Insight” post, we have decompiled the latest version of the app that Google has uploaded to the Play Store. When we decompile these files (called APKs in the case of Android apps), we can see various lines of code within that hint at possible future features. Note that Google may or may not ever deliver these features, and our interpretation of what they are may be imperfect. However, we will try to enable those that are closer to completion to show you what they will look like should they be shipped. With that in mind, read on.
Version 4.26.x details this upcoming feature, which includes granting notification access to Google Contacts. This will allow you to “see and reply to the latest messages from your contacts.”
See the messages on your widget - “To see and respond to the latest messages from your contacts, allow access to notifications for Contacts.”
In theory, this should work with any messaging app on your device.
This feature is likely intended for the individual contact widget that was redesigned in October from the original large circular layout. The object on the home screen can be in the form of a tablet or a rectangle that occupies the entire screen.
The app also offers “Favorite Contacts” to see up to seven people you’ve starred the most. Last year, Google detailed how it was done with Jetpack Glance (after previously using RemoteViews).
These are basically Google Contacts that replicate the functionality of Android’s system-level chat widget, which was introduced with Android 12 but hasn’t seen any updates since then.
This upcoming Google Contacts feature is not yet available.
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