How to Change or Add Pictures to Contacts on Android
Here is a look how to change or add picture to contacts on Android for easier contact management on your phone.
Adding a photo to a contact on your Android phone is a convenient way to see who is calling you. This is especially important if you have vision problems and find it hard to read the displayed name. It also jazzes up your calling experience. Instead of text only, adding a photo to a contact allows you to find them more easily.
By default, when you enter a contract, the first letter of the entity is displayed in capital letters. So, my recommendation is to add pictures to contacts so you can see them more easily when you make and receive calls.
Depending on the person or company, you might want to change the picture to something that makes it easier to identify when chiming in. Here’s how to add or change the picture on your contacts.
How Do I Add a Picture to a Contact on Android?
You can add a picture to a contact on your Android phone by using the following steps.
- Swipe up from the bottom of your screen and open Contacts.
- Scroll down and tap the contact you want to add a picture. If you have several contacts, you can search for it using the top search field.
- Tap the Edit button (pencil icon) in the top corner.
- Tap the Add picture button near the top of the screen.
- Now, choose a picture to add to the contact. You can find one on Google Photos, your Gallery, Illustrations, or take a photo with your camera. In this example, I’m using a photo from the Gallery.
- Select the image you want to use and crop and rotate it for what works best for you.
- Once you have edited the picture as you want it, tap the Choose button at the bottom of the screen.
- You will be brought back to the edit contact screen, where you can remove the image, edit the picture, or edit other details. If everything looks good, tap the Save button at the top of the screen.
- Now, when you scroll or search your contacts, you’ll find a thumbnail of the picture you set for the contact.
- If you need to edit or change the photo or other contact details in the future, select the contact and tap the Edit icon at the top.
Add or Change Contact Pictures on Android
If you want to find a contact to call easily or need to know when someone is calling you, adding a picture to contacts is a helpful way to do it. It’s also important to note that you can follow the same steps to change a contact’s picture whenever you want.
However, remember that the steps on your Android device may vary. For instance, Samsung phones run a proprietary One UI skin on top of Android, but the idea of adding a picture on a Galaxy is essentially the same.
27 Comments
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Vadim
May 25, 2011 at 11:03 am
mrgroove the android!!!! I knew he was a robot!
MrGroove
May 25, 2011 at 6:31 pm
Indeed… I’ve been working out. ;)
Ahmed
January 29, 2012 at 6:22 pm
thanks….but what is the privacy??….if I use a picture for my Dad contact, and sync it with gmail…will my other friends be able to see that picture?
sm
June 12, 2013 at 12:23 am
this works when the contacts are saved on phone and does not work when they are stored on SD Card. Pl. clarify how to add pic to contacts stored on SD Card. I have a Samsung Galaxy Y SCH-i509 CDMA handset with Gingerbread 2.3.6
Lou
October 18, 2013 at 7:20 am
Sounds like you are more technically ahead of the game than I am so can you tell me how to transfer photo s from my p.c. to my android phone?
panks
December 23, 2014 at 7:01 pm
While adding contact picture it goes to Google+ instead of step to crop the picture. What is happening ? please help.
dereklowe
March 12, 2015 at 4:51 am
dear sir i am having problems trying to add photo from phone to contact but with no success as i have tried to follow the instruction as stated on your web site as my phone is a galaxy s3 mini mode gt 1800n,or whether i have to go to my local Vodafone store for advice.
Yours Faithfully
Derek Lowe
bhawesh
March 26, 2015 at 10:47 am
After following the above process my phone is unable to do so and instead it shows that no picture on phone memory although Pictures are available.
Lezli karp
March 24, 2023 at 7:13 am
I agree totally. Most of my questions are never answered in any way I understand. And I’m a far cry from stupid!!! I would appreciate any help u can give. Most of my minutes are used for this.
Jane
July 13, 2016 at 11:02 pm
My Huawei Y625 does the opposite – when I select the picture then select “Add to contact”, it tells me I have no contacts, even though I have many … In the Contacts list, you can edit everything BUT the picture.
Ellie Scadden
July 19, 2016 at 10:15 am
My phone is a Hauwei Y635 which I got on my birthday some of the contacts I added then and now it wont ket me add a profile picture for them.
Anum tariq
September 19, 2016 at 4:29 am
How to add picture to a contact in QMobile Z9 ??? There is no option of photo in contact????
fatin batrisya
December 16, 2016 at 9:16 pm
I want this contact photo
Jim Shunamon
October 5, 2017 at 1:06 pm
Thanks for the great article Brian. :-D
I set all my Contacts photos directly from the Google Photos app.
Upload the photo to Google Photos (or set the app to automatically backup all photos on your device). Open Google Photos, select a picture then select the overflow menu (three dots in upper right corner of screen). You will see something in the list that says “Use as”. If you select this it will open up a list of choices and one of those choices is to use the photo as a Contact. Select that option and follow the steps your device provides for selecting the proper contact. Make sure to save the Contact again after you add the new photo.
This has worked for me in all versions of Android from Kit-Kat up through Nougat. I don’t have Oreo (yet) so I can’t say if it would be the same but many of you who are having troubles seem to have either older devices or versions of Android below Oreo so i hope that this advice might work as well for you as it has for me.
Khalid
October 22, 2017 at 3:27 am
Looking for help
I saved all my contacts in google account. Most of my contacts are saved with pictures but now when i open a contact my phone disply small picture. On place of big image it shows a rough sctech. What should i do to desply large image
Pam
November 26, 2017 at 8:37 pm
My Android phone is an Alcatel, it won’t let me choose a picture from the above instructions, please help
Jim Shunamon
November 27, 2017 at 12:11 pm
Hi Pam. I don’t know which Alcatel model yo have but check out the instructions at this link to see if they work for you:
https://videotron.tmtx.ca/en/topic/alcatel_onetouchmpop/adding_contacts.html#step=1
Good luck!!! :)
Yoganand
December 18, 2017 at 10:31 am
This worked well for me. thanks for the help.
Junalie
February 6, 2018 at 6:22 pm
How about Samsung j2 prime I don’t know how to put picture in the contact.
Jim Shunamon
February 7, 2018 at 1:59 pm
Check this support page from Samsung. :-D
http://www.samsung.com/in/support/skp/faq/1102940
Nancy
November 30, 2021 at 10:50 am
How about infinix smart 5,l don’t know how to insert the pics in the person’s contact.
Dave
May 28, 2019 at 12:48 am
What’s really annoying, is that almost all my contacts have photos in whatsapp and facebook, however android won’t sync them. I’m not going to save, edit, upload and attach photos to every contact! Why not show the photo you already have by default!?
Van
July 19, 2019 at 1:41 pm
The only way to add picture to your contacts in Android 9 is:
1.Transfer all your contacts from SIM to Phone.
2.Open a contact to which you want to add picture.
3.Push “Edit”, on top of the screen, left you will get 2 choices – Phone and Sim.
4.Chose “Phone” and push the colored circle under it with camera picture.
5.From the screen that will open, chose “Gallery”, chose a picture from the “Gallery” that you want to add.
6.Resize the picture or chose “Done”.
7.Than, on the new screen that will open, chose “Save”.
Jim Shunamon
July 20, 2019 at 5:11 pm
That’s Interesting. What phone are you using? I have a Samsung Galaxy S19e running Android 9 (Pie). I can still do it using Google Photos as well as the ways you describe. Also, my contacts are all saved to my Google account through gmail. When I get a new phone the photos are always there. I don’t like the idea of having pics stored on my sim or phone just in case.
Jim Shunamon
July 20, 2019 at 5:12 pm
Sorry, Galaxy S10e
jerry
September 25, 2021 at 4:22 am
My telephone is a Hauwei Y635 which I got on my birthday a portion of the contacts I added then, at that point, and presently it wont ket me add a profile picture for them.
Tainsha Binnez
November 7, 2021 at 6:43 pm
How ’bout this?
I moved from an iPhone to Android. On the iPhone, I can favorite several phone numbers so when I look at my favorite list, I see a favorite for (for example) home and cell. Can’t be done on Android.
So I created a separate entry for the cell number. But the picture came from the iPhone during the switch so I have no idea where it is so the new (cell) entry had no picture. Finally, I had to…
Delete the new “Cell” entry.
Export the contact (with all personal info).
Import the contact telling it I wanted to keep both, I did not one or the other updated as that was the default.
Delete all personal info from the new, duplicate contact except for cell number. I could have left it in there but I didn’t want confusion. Now the home contact has address and work info, birthday, email, etc., while the cell entry has just the phone number and the same picture as the home entry.
Hope this helps.