Google Contacts adds half-screen floating panel when adding new numbers

Ben Schoon | Apr 26 2019 - 8:11 am PT

In an effort to make it easier for users to input new numbers for contacts, Google Contacts is rolling out a new feature that’s potentially based on Android Slices. The new half-screen panel offers a lot of functionality without pulling you out of the app. Here’s what it does.

Some users on both Android Pie and Android Q are seeing this new half-panel as a part of the latest Google Contacts update. We’re inclined to believe that this could be based on Android Slices since it works incredibly similarly to some Android Q features based on Slices.

This is designed to make it easier for users to fully add a new person to their contacts without leaving the app they’re currently in.

In apps such as WhatsApp, the “add” button triggers this new UI to come up on roughly 2/3 of the screen which firstly gives you the option to search your contacts or create a new one. If you opt to create a new one, the UI stays up and lets you fill in all of the information to create this new contact. As you might expect, this slice also supports a dark theme based on what the app itself is showing, respecting the system setting.

This seems to be a server-side update on Google Contacts v3.57. That same update offered better dark mode support and made some other small changes, but only some users are seeing these new Android Slices in Google Contacts. I’ve not been able to replicate it on my end, but Android Police has three users seeing it live. You can see what it looks like in the screenshots they provided below.