Pixel VIPs Finally Earns Its Home Screen Spot With One-Tap Calls

When Google launched Pixel VIPs in June 2025, the pitch was simple: pick up to eight people who matter, and let a home screen widget keep track of them. Recent calls, WhatsApp messages, locations, birthdays. All in one place.

The problem was that you couldn’t do much with any of it. You could look at your VIPs. Actually reaching them meant jumping into another app. Android Authority’s early verdict captured the mood: “Pixel VIPs has so much potential to be a useful widget, but I wish it looked better.”

A year later, Google has fixed the part that mattered. Between the September Pixel Drop, a Play Store update to Pixel VIPs 2.0 and a widget redesign now rolling out, VIPs has become a real productivity tool instead of a digital photo frame for your contacts.

The widget now does the job

The redesigned widget, which 9to5Google spotted on September 24, trims the options to two layouts. The 5×1 version shows a single scrollable row of up to four contacts. The 5×2 version, now the largest size, uses rectangular contact cards with pill-shaped buttons to call or message someone directly.

That second part is the whole story. Tapping a name and hitting call from your home screen is what a “favorite people” widget should always have done. Circular badges now flag unread messages on a contact’s photo or messaging icon, so you’ll see that your partner texted without opening Messages. Names are trimmed to first names only, which keeps the cards clean.

Google is being cautious here. The widget redesign is arriving through a server-side update, and 9to5Google said it had appeared on only one of its devices so far. Don’t panic if yours still looks the old way.

VIPs 2.0 trades one-handed use for more room

The app you land in after tapping a contact changed too. Version 2.0, which started hitting the Play Store around September 21, swaps the old bottom sheet for a full-screen page. Here’s what’s different:

• A pill-shaped switcher lets you jump between VIPs without going back to the home screen.
• A pencil icon takes you straight to that person’s entry in Google Contacts for editing.
• “Local updates” now sit at the top, and “Notes” moved to the bottom.
• Call, message, video and contact actions use new outline icons.
• Media and place recommendations are gone.

We think dropping the recommendations was the right call. Nobody opens a contact card to be pitched a restaurant. The full-screen layout is a real trade-off, though. The old sheet kept shortcuts near the bottom edge, where your thumb lives. Now some of those controls are a reach on a big phone. With the widget’s new call and message buttons, you may not need the full page as often anyway.

How to get it on your Pixel

The VIPs features are available on the Pixel 6 and newer and live inside the Google Contacts app, according to Android Authority. To get the latest version:

1. Open the Play Store and update Google Contacts and any pending Pixel app updates.
2. Long-press an empty spot on your home screen and tap Widgets.
3. Find the VIPs widget under Contacts and drag it to your home screen.
4. Resize it to 5×2 if you want the one-tap call and message buttons.
5. Add up to eight people, then put the ones you contact most at the front of the row.

If you only see the older design, it’s the server-side rollout, not your settings. Give it a few days.

The verdict

Pixel VIPs finally does what it promised. The widget saves real taps every day, and the unread badges make it useful at a glance. It isn’t flashy, and that’s the point. If you tried VIPs in 2025 and removed it, it’s worth another spot on your home screen.

Sources: 9to5Google, 9to5Google (VIPs 2.0), Android Authority. Photo by Daniel Romero on Unsplash.