Google finally made Pixel VIPs useful, but it's missing these 5 features

Google recently gave the Pixel VIPs widget a major upgrade, making it much more useful than when it first launched a year ago. The widget is now much more interactive, making it easier to reach the people you frequently contact, while the new full-screen layout lets you see more information about your favorite contacts in one place.

Compared to what Google originally introduced with Android 16, the Pixel VIPs experience has improved quite a lot with Android 17. But despite all these additions, I still think there are a few things Google could do to make the feature even better.

Having used the updated Pixel VIPs widget for a while now, here are some of the features and improvements I’d love Google to add next.

Limited third-party app integration

While it’s great that Google hasn’t limited Pixel VIPs to just Google Messages, with the feature also supporting messages and calls from WhatsApp, the problem is that WhatsApp is currently the only major third-party messaging app supported.

There are plenty of people who rely on other messaging apps like Telegram and Signal. And if you’re using Pixel VIPs for work contacts, there’s a good chance you primarily communicate with some of them through Slack or Microsoft Teams.

Unfortunately, Pixel VIPs doesn’t integrate with any of these apps right now. I’d love Google to expand support to more third-party messaging services and, ideally, give users the option to choose which apps they want to use for each contact.

No search for notes

One of the best parts about Pixel VIPs is that you can jot down notes about your favorite contacts directly within their dedicated VIP page. For example, you can keep track of things they like or dislike, or quickly save gift ideas for when their birthday or another special occasion comes around.

The problem, however, is that the notes section doesn’t have a search feature. So, if you’ve saved quite a few notes about someone and want to quickly find something specific, you’ll have to manually scroll through them.

This is something we noticed even when we went hands-on with the first version of the Pixel VIPs last year, and it hasn’t been fixed even now. For a feature that’s designed to help you remember important things about your contacts, having a basic search option seems like a pretty obvious addition.

Let me choose a different photo for the widget

One thing I really like about the Pixel VIPs widget is that it shows large contact photos on your home screen, alongside quick buttons for calling and messaging them.

But the thing is, we don’t necessarily choose our contacts’ profile pictures based on how they’ll look inside a home screen widget. You might have a favorite photo of someone saved in their contact details, but that same picture may not look particularly good when cropped into the Pixel VIPs widget.

I wish Google would let us choose a separate photo for each contact specifically for the widget. That way, I could keep the original contact photo as it is while using something that looks better on my home screen.

Let me customize the buttons on the widget

And while we’re talking about customizing the widget, I’d also love Google to let us change the shortcut buttons that appear alongside each contact. Right now, the dedicated call and messaging buttons are pretty convenient, but not everyone communicates with their favorite contacts in the same way.

For example, I’d much rather have a WhatsApp shortcut instead of the regular messaging button for some of my contacts. Similarly, there are people I rarely call, so having a dedicated call button for them doesn’t make much sense.

Currently, tapping the call button immediately dials the contact, which is convenient if that’s what you want. But I’d prefer having the option to replace it with another shortcut or remove it altogether.

Pixel VIPs needs a dedicated app or Contacts integration

Another thing I find strange about Pixel VIPs is that the experience is still heavily tied to the home screen widget. Right now, the main way to access Pixel VIPs is by adding the widget from the Contacts section to your home screen.

But what if someone doesn’t want another widget taking up space on their home screen and still wants to use all the features Pixel VIPs offers? There’s no straightforward way to do that right now.

I think Google should either introduce a dedicated Pixel VIPs app (similar to what it did with the Now Playing app recently) or, even better, integrate the feature directly into the Google Contacts app. A dedicated VIPs section inside Contacts would make it much easier to access your favorite people.

It would also make the whole setup feel much cleaner, especially for people who want to use Pixel VIPs without changing their home screen layout.

On the whole, Google has improved the Pixel VIPs experience quite a lot with the latest update, and I’ve certainly started using it much more than when it first launched. But there are still a few basic things missing that I think Google should address.

And speaking of things Google needs to fix, there are a few issues on the hardware side as well. In fact, here are three big problems we hope Google fixes with the Pixel 12 Pro.