Google Messages brings back the option to customize contacts.
Because you can't trust your friends to choose good contact photos.
Google is modifying the "profile sharing" feature in the Google Messages app, allowing users to set custom contact names and photos on their own devices for saved contacts and those they text. Previously, an update implemented late last year replaced custom names and photos with each individual's "broadcasted" profile, but now users can revert that option and assign friends, colleagues, and family the names and avatars they see fit.
This profile sharing feature was announced in late 2023, marking a step forward in Google's rollout of RCS, and is similar to the Contact Posters functionality on iPhones. In October, Android Authority identified a reference in Android code indicating that Google was once again working to enable custom profile photos.
The updated support page by Google for profile sharing now details the necessary steps to set a local contact photo that replaces the one shared by the person. To customize the name or appearance of a contact, users need to tap the individual's name or image in a Google Messages chat, and then select their photo on the details page. From there, users can toggle between the shared image and the one they have set up customarily.
