Google Phone App Adds iPhone-style Calling Cards

Google brings Calling Cards to the Phone app

Google has begun rolling out Calling Cards in its Phone app with the v188 update, letting Android users replace small contact thumbnails with full-screen images, stylized names, and color themes. The move follows Android’s Material 3 Expressive refresh and moves the Phone app closer to the visual contact treatment iPhone users have had since 2023.

Finding and creating Calling Cards is simple: a banner on the Phone app Home tab (or the Contacts app) links to the Calling Card editor. You can choose an image from your camera, gallery, or Google Photos, then pick a font and color for how the contact’s name appears during incoming calls. The feature started in beta earlier this month and is being rolled out in phases worldwide.

There’s an important difference from Apple’s Contact Posters: Google’s Calling Cards are device-specific. You can customize how someone appears when they call you, but you can’t design a Calling Card that follows your identity to another person’s phone. Contacts have no control over how they appear on your device, which opens playful personalization but also potential for mismatches.

The update also introduces 'Take a message,' an automatic answer-and-transcribe voicemail feature. When you miss a call, the Phone app can answer, play a custom or preset greeting, and produce a transcript and audio recording saved privately on your device. Google says these messages are stored locally and the feature requires Pixel 4 or newer phones, and Pixel Watch 2 paired with Pixel 6 or newer for compatibility.

Why it matters

Calling Cards are a small visual change with outsized UX impact. Full-screen visuals can improve caller recognition and accessibility when paired with clear fonts and high-contrast colors. But device-scoped customization creates a fragmented experience: one person’s incoming call screen may look very different depending on which contact’s phone is calling.

The on-device voicemail transcription is notable for privacy and performance. Local storage of transcripts avoids cloud processing risks, but it shifts responsibility to the device for secure storage and indexing. Enterprises and carriers will want to weigh device compatibility, encryption, and retention policies before adopting such features broadly.

• Test Calling Cards across device variants to ensure images, fonts, and colors remain legible.
• Audit on-device transcript storage and access controls to meet enterprise privacy requirements.
• Design opt-in flows and user education when personalization can modify how others appear during calls.
• Monitor adoption metrics and feedback to decide whether to expand device-scoped features into shared identity experiences.

For developers and product leaders, Calling Cards are a reminder that small visual features can change user expectations quickly. Rolling out in phases gives Google time to iterate, but app teams should prepare for requests around sync, ownership of identity, and accessibility tweaks.

QuarkyByte’s approach combines design validation, privacy risk assessment, and rollout analytics to help organizations decide whether to adopt similar personalization features. We help product and ops teams measure user impact, draft guardrails for device-based personalization, and define logging and retention policies for on-device voice data so features are both delightful and compliant.

Expect Calling Cards to appear gradually in users’ Phone apps over the coming weeks. If you manage mobile UX, communications features, or device fleets, now is a good time to test visuals, confirm privacy controls, and plan how to handle mixed experiences across platforms.