What do you want to know
- Google seems to be adding filter chips to Google Contacts.
- Filtering options are similar to those introduced in Gmail last year.
- At the moment, the new search feature appears to be part of an A/B test, as it’s not widely available.
Trying to find a specific contact in Google Contacts can be tricky, especially if you keep a long list of people in your phonebook, but new evidence suggests that Google may fix this situation in the future.
According to Android Police (opens in a new tab), Google Contacts is getting an update that will include bullet filters to help you sort through your contacts. The new feature appears to be rolling out as part of an A/B test, with only a handful of users currently seeing it.
When it becomes more widely available, you can narrow your search by phone contacts, email contacts, or company. The third filter is useful if you want to find someone whose name you don’t remember but know the company where they work.
You should be able to do the same with the phone and email contact filters. Bullets appear below the search bar when you start searching for a specific contact.
If that sounds familiar, that’s because Google introduced the same search functionality to Gmail on the web in 2020, as well as to Android phones last year. Contacts bullets are oval-shaped, similar to those found in Gmail for Android and the web. The same functionality is also available on Google Drive.
However, Contacts has fewer bullet points than the mobile and web versions of Gmail. But it’s a safe bet that Google will add more filtering options once this is made public.
It’s unclear when this new feature will be widely available. Android Central has contacted Google and will update this article once we receive a response.