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

Google Messages has recently received some updates, while also planning some for the future, such as a camera button to make sharing photos easier. However, a slightly strange change was noticed in the app recently, reports 9to5Google. It appears that Google Messages is not showing the “Main Contacts” section on the “New Conversation” screen for some people.

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

The change appears to affect the majority of users, and it appears to have happened in recent weeks. Previously, when you started a new conversation, you would get a grid of “Best Contacts” on the “New Conversation” page. Below you will find all contacts in alphabetical order.

However, now that “Top Contacts” section is just… missing. You would have to search for the contact in alphabetical order, and this, for some, can be a fairly annoying change. If you’re one of the people who frequently archive conversations or have a lot of threads, losing the ability to access one of your main contacts from this page can be annoying.

There is a workaround, however: you can pin conversations (up to five) to the top of the Google Messages home screen, to help you quickly find the one you need, at least if you do part of people with many threads.

It looks like this is probably not a bug but a planned redesign. Google Messages has been changed here and there recently. For example, another similar change currently being tested (so not all users have it yet) is a full-screen “Select Recipients” page that lets you select multiple contacts.