Wider Rollout of Profile Discovery Brings Updated Contact Photos to Google Messages

Google Messages has begun a wider rollout of its Profile discovery feature, which was first announced in November. The most noticeable change is the updating of contact photos. When users sign-in with their Google Account, Profile Sharing activates, allowing users to choose a picture and name that others will see in conversations. This feature aims to solve the issue of receiving messages from unknown numbers and is particularly helpful in group chats.

However, some users do not like this change as it overrides any manually set photos in Google Contacts. The only solution for users who do not want this new behavior is to turn off Profile Sharing in their Messages settings and ask others to do the same.