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Here's your first look at the new Pixel VIP widget ahead of its wide rollout
Sep 16, 2026 — 4:58 AM ET
- Google announced Pixel VIP widget updates in the September 2026 Pixel Feature Drop yesterday without sharing any visual previews, but we managed to manually enable the new widget.
- The redesigned Pixel VIP widget introduces single-tap quick actions for calling or texting contacts, enforces a full-width layout, and reverts to the old layout if you select more than four VIPs.
- Adding a single-contact widget now adds the contact to your VIP list and opens a dedicated VIP sheet, rather than taking you directly to the main contact details page.
Google announced a bunch of changes to Pixel VIPs as part of the September 2026 Pixel Feature Drop, but the company didn’t share any screenshots or images to showcase the changes. Fret not, we’re here to show you the new Pixel VIP widget and some of the key changes it brings.
The Pixel VIP widget remains part of the Google Contacts app, and the new version is available in the latest version of the app. However, the new widget isn’t active yet, and we had to tinker with it to get it working. Users will have to wait for Google to flip a server-side switch to enjoy this on their Pixel.
As you can see in the widget, the new Pixel VIP widget includes quick actions that let you call or text your favorite contacts with a single tap from your home screen.
Depending on the number of contacts that you’ve selected, there are slight variations in how the widget shows up:
If you have more than four VIPs, the widget reverts to the older design rather than cram everything up in the limited space:
Google also notes that the Pixel VIP widget now works only in full-width:
This is partially true, as the widget can still be resized into a smaller widget. However, you get the quick action buttons in the full-width widget only — though keep in mind you also lose them when you have more than four VIPs.
There’s another behavioral change here that Google didn’t announce. Previously, adding a single-contact widget from Google Contacts to your home screen would add a simple, resizable widget. Tapping the widget would open the main contact details screen. This way, you could have multiple single-contact widgets on your home screen without adding any of them as a VIP.
With the new changes, adding a single-contact widget to the home screen first adds that contact to your VIP list. Tapping the widget consequently opens the VIP sheet rather than the contact details screen.
The new changes to Pixel VIPs will be available on Pixel 6 phones and newer, across all supported regions and languages.
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