Google's individual contact widget adds shared location, message notifications, and more

The Google Contacts widget has new features that you can discover in the app listing on the Play Store. For example, one change will now give you the ability to “See and respond to notifications from certain apps on the contact widget.” To set this up, long-press any open space on your Android home screen. The dialog box that appears shows three options and you need to tap on Widgets.

Once you open the list of available widgets, scroll down to Contacts, tap the 2 x 2 individual contact widget and tap the blue + Add button. This will call up a list of your contacts. Choose the one you want on the widget. A notification bell icon will appear in the upper right corner of the widget. Tap it and you’ll see a notification that says: “To see and respond to the latest messages from your contracts, allow access to notifications for contracts.” Tap the Settings button and enable the “Allow access to notifications” toggle on your Contacts app.

The Google Contacts widget now displays messages. Image credit 9to5Google

Once you enable notification access, messages will appear on the widget with any smart reply suggestions. Although only one message can be seen at a time, the widget will alert you to multiple messages from the same contact. The widget will also allow you to see the shared Google Maps location on the Contacts widget. When you tap the widget, you will be taken to the contact’s full profile page where you will see where they are currently located. Tap the Google Maps image and you will be taken to the full Google Maps page showing your contact’s location.

Set the time you'll receive an important reminder about a contact: Google's individual contact widget adds shared location, message notifications, and more.

Set the time when you will receive an important reminder about a contact

Finally, you can set a specific time of day to receive reminders of important dates. Tap the Contract widget to see the contact’s full profile. Under Contact Settings, tap Reminders. You can choose one of the significant dates (Birthday, Anniversary, etc.) for this Contact. Choose whether you want to be notified on the day of the event, two days before, seven days before or two weeks before. Once you select one of these options, you can choose a specific time to be notified.

These features are available on version 4.34 of Google Contacts which is now available on the Play Store.