Google Phone may soon offer a smaller Calling Card view
A beta build hints that Google Phone could let users show smaller Calling Card photos against coloured backgrounds, but the feature is not functional yet.
Google is testing a less intrusive way to display Calling Cards in the Phone by Google app. Android Authority reports that a recent beta build contains a partially enabled “Compact photo” option, which could replace the current full-screen presentation with a smaller contact image and a coloured background.1
The feature is not functional yet. The report says its menu exposes two choices — Full photo and Compact photo — but the compact option cannot currently be used to add a picture from the Gallery, Google Photos or Camera. Tapping the four visible colour tiles also does nothing in the tested build.1
The labels found in the beta identify the presets as Coral, Olive, Teal and Violet. That suggests Google is considering a design in which the chosen colour fills the calling screen while a smaller contact image sits in the middle, although Android Authority stresses that this is an interpretation of the unfinished interface rather than a confirmed final design.1
Google’s own Phone app help documentation currently describes Calling Cards as full-screen images shown for incoming or outgoing calls, and says users can choose a photo, font and text colour when creating one.2 The beta discovery therefore appears to be an extension of an existing feature, not a separate app or a confirmed replacement for the current experience.
There is no release date for Compact photo, and Google has not publicly confirmed that it will ship. Beta code can change, disappear or be limited to particular devices and app versions. For now, the useful takeaway is that Google appears to be exploring more control over how much of the screen a Calling Card occupies, while the implementation remains incomplete.
Our opinion
A compact Calling Card option would make sense because a full-screen contact image is a bold choice for a routine phone call. The idea is modest rather than revolutionary, but giving people a smaller presentation and a few restrained colour themes could make the feature easier to live with. The caveat matters more than the mock-up: until the controls work and Google announces the rollout, this is a glimpse of an experiment, not a feature users can rely on.