Google has some smart new ideas for its Contact Wear OS UI

A good user interface is important any time we’re using software, but it’s arguably most important on screens that are the most difficult to interact with – and you probably won’t find many people disagreeing that smartwatches are at the top of that list. When developers are trying to make apps as useful as possible on such small displays, every decision matters. Today we’re checking out some big advancements in that department for Google Contacts on Wear OS.

Looking at version 1.106.0.914792851-release-wear of the Contacts app, we’ve noticed some significant, photo-first changes to the way your watch shows your contacts.

There on the left, you can see the old UI for displaying your favorite contacts, with names taking up most of the watch’s screen. But this new preferred layout on the right not only fits more contacts on the screen at once, but also does so with nice, large, easily recognizable photos.

The same design philosophy behind that change appears to impact the contact details screen as well. Instead of the text-heavy old format seen on the left, Contacts is adopting a new layout that prioritizes photos and actionable buttons. If that look sounds familiar to you, there’s probably good reason — Google is setting it to match the layout used by Contacts for its Wear OS tiles:

Although some of you may like the way the old UI emphasized the contact’s actual phone number on the details screen, we’d argue that this is a huge step forward in terms of usability overall.