Google Messages “Top contacts” section mysteriously disappears from the “New conversation” page

Google Messages has been getting some updates recently, while also having some in store for the future like a camera button for easier photo sharing. However, one slightly odd change has been noticed in the app recently, reports 9to5Google. It seems Google Messages doesn’t show the “Top contacts” section on the “New conversation” screen for some people.

Bug or by design? Google Messages “Top contacts” missing for some

The change seems to be for the majority of users, and it seems to have happened in recent weeks. Before, when you were to start a new chat, you’d get a grid of “Top contacts” on the “New conversation” page. Below it, you will find all the contacts alphabetically.

However now, this “Top contact” section is just plainly… missing. You’d have to go find the contact from the alphabetical order, and that, for some may be quite the annoying change. If you’re one of the people who frequently archive conversations or have a lot of threads, losing the ability to jump to one of your top contacts from that page might be annoying.

There’s a workaround though: you can pin conversations (up to five) to the top of the Google Messages home screen, so that can help you quickly find the one you need, at least if you’re one of the people with many threads.

It seems that that’s most likely not a bug but a planned revamp. Google Messages has been getting changed here and there recently. Like, another similar change that’s in the testing currently (so not all users have that one yet) is a fullscreen “Select recipients” page that allows you to select multiple contacts.