Lollipop Contacts- categories (groups) are dead

[crxssi]

Both my mom and I have Nexus 5's. Mine has been updated, but I had mom hold off until my next trip there (100+ miles) to make sure she could handle the changes. Everything went well until the next day when I was back home (today) and got a call....

As unbelievable as this is, Google decided to COMPLETELY REMOVE the ability to filter contacts based on contact category (group). Yep, just gone. A feature that has been in every version of Android for years and years (and PalmOS before that). Mom has hundreds of business and personal and other contacts all sorted into a dozen categories (groups) so she can quickly find them. Now she is screwed. I started searching, thinking it was just something we were doing wrong. Nope. Utterly baffling.

https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=79803

Oh, you can still SET a group on a contact, and even create a group while in a contact. But you can't actually DO anything with that information anymore.

 

[B. Diddy]

There actually is still a way to filter using your Groups. But I agree, it's a lot clunkier than before:

1. Open People.
2. Tap the Menu button, then Contacts To Display.
3. Tap Customize.
4. Tap your Google account.
5. Now check the group you want to filter by.

 

[crxssi]

There actually is still a way to filter using your Groups. But I agree, it's a lot clunkier than before:[...].

Yeah, I knew that option, but it is such a nightmare that I can't believe anyone would go through all that. Plus one has to undo it all right after.

What were they thinking???

 

[Insp_Gadget]

Yeah, I noticed this issue right away, since I use Groups extensively. It's really messing with my work flow.

 

[crxssi]

Yeah, I noticed this issue right away, since I use Groups extensively. It's really messing with my work flow.

I am sure it messes with tens of thousands of people's workflows, if not more. And yet some arrogant ***** design person probably thought that it was too "messy" or "confusing" to have the option on the screen and so much "cleaner" to remove that useful function. Sorry to be so rash about it, but I just can't believe the stupidity of some of the changes in the name of making the interface so-called "easier" and "cleaner". Removing useful features doesn't improve anything at all.

 

[Lincoln Chris]

I upgraded to a nexus 6 and lollipop. I Cant believe they did away with groups for contacts. I Have hundreds of non deleted contacts that i now look at every time. It is also much more difficult to look through everything. This was an extremely arrogant and stupid change. Google engineers should understand how a product is used!

 

[brosko]

I doubt I am upgrading to lollipop for awhile. This is just one more thing on my list against lollipop. Thanks for pointing this out before I updated.

 

[maildroiddev]

A lightweight option exists now for users and can be found on the Play Store (Contacts Groups for Lollipop) Link to it: https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...?id=com.flipdog.android.groups&token=EBGLAzd1 or the long version: https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...?id=com.flipdog.android.groups&token=EBGLAzd1

 

[crxssi]

A lightweight option exists now for users and can be found on the Play Store (Contacts Groups for Lollipop) Link to it: https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...?id=com.flipdog.android.groups&token=0FImBCTn or the long version: https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...?id=com.flipdog.android.groups&token=0FImBCTn

I *hate* apps that offer unknown-price in-app purchases to "unlock" trial mode. Looks like it might be an option for some people. I would greatly prefer that Google fix what they screwed-up, of course.

 

[maildroiddev]

It's known, it shows it if you click it...it is 99 cents and it's not a trial, it is the full app but will stop working after a few days if you don't pay for it. The goal was to allow people to really use it fully and if they like it buy it, if not uninstall it. Also, the cost was meant not to be prohibitive for people that did want it but at least to cover some costs of the development effort.

 

[crxssi]

It's known, it shows it if you click it...it is 99 cents

There was nowhere on the Google Play page that said the dollar amount and nowhere to click that would produce a price. However, they are apparently monitoring this thread (or you are "they" or you told them, or they have E.S.P.), since this morning it now has the amount listed in the description

I am not against paid apps, just non-full disclosure.

 

[dutchRafa]

Well, to solve that problem, I started using Contacts+, which does that and a lot more..

 

[LaurieonLINY]

Seriously? He's charging a whole 99 cents for an app he developed that solves a problem for millions of us when the multibillion dollar corporation who caused this mess in the first place, (which I'm sure this guy is no way affiliated with or he'd be charging a whole hell of a lot more than a dollar...), is too busy to to be bothered fixing it.

IMHO he certainly deserves to be compensated for his time and skills. He heard the public complaints with the recent Lollipop update's contact issues and took the initiative to devise his own solution. I Wish there were more people out there like that. I rarely pay for apps. But I tried it out & it's super clean & simple. I'm paying for this one, And I think it's well worth the dollar. :-$

 

[ctoro99]

I agree, this is one of the dumbest things they could've done. I just got my first Google phone coming from a line Galaxy series. Had I known this, I wouldn't have switched to the Nexus 6.

Not grouping contacts is TOO high of an inconvenience.

Let's rectify Google ..... hello?

 

[nelhop]

A lightweight option exists now for users and can be found on the Play Store (Contacts Groups for Lollipop) Link to it: https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...?id=com.flipdog.android.groups&token=AeT3pW6g or the long version: https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...?id=com.flipdog.android.groups&token=AeT3pW6g

Well, I downloaded the app and installed. So how do you use it? The groups are there. The 3 dots menu doesn't give you a way to put the whole group in an email.

 

[sgleon]

I agree this app just shows you the groups, i need to be able to email a everyone in the group and text the group like my Sammy Note 3
I love my Nexus 6 but the contacts, calendar and Camera app are so inferior to Samsung it is a joke

 

[kowtoo]

Groups are still there, you just have to choose to display them on your phone.

Go to contacts, menu (three dots, top right) > filter, scroll dow to 'display contacts', then click the account you want to display groups from and tick the groups you want to display.

 

[Insp_Gadget]

Groups are still there, you just have to choose to display them on your phone.

Go to contacts, menu (three dots, top right) > filter, scroll dow to 'display contacts', then click the account you want to display groups from and tick the groups you want to display.

Not sure what you're talking about. The Google Contacts app (at least on my Nexus 5) doesn't have a "filter" menu item. There is a "Contacts to display" item (which lists your accounts: Google, Exchange, etc., and "Customize"). If you choose "Customize", you get an expanded list of your groups, from which you can check/un-check which groups of contacts will appear. There are several problems with this method:

1. You have to un-check everything but the individual group you want to see. If you select more than one group, when you look at your list of contacts, the group names are not shown, so you have no way of identifying which contacts are in which groups unless you open each and every contact individually.

2. You have to reconfigure the customization (undo it) in order to get back to seeing all of your contacts again.

3. You have to do this customization for each account, and again, it must be undone to get back to a normal view.

The original method simply had a "Groups" tab that you could swipe over to in order to see your groups and their contents. I have no idea what possessed Google to take that away. It was a stupid (and crippling move).

If your phone is showing a "Filter" option, then it would seem that you're using a different contact app (provided by your phone's OEM, perhaps?). Please clarify if that is the case.

 

[crxssi]

Groups are still there, you just have to choose to display them on your phone.

Go to contacts, menu (three dots, top right) > filter, scroll dow to 'display contacts', then click the account you want to display groups from and tick the groups you want to display.

See "Insp_Gadget" post above. You are either confused or not using the Google contacts app that comes with the Nexus 5. They removed the groups filter a long time ago which is why I started this thread. And it is still missing in Android 6.... which to me is just shocking.

 

[Michael Walk]

meant to reply to kowtoo, just wanted to say thanks - I would never have found my Groups hidden in there!