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TL;DR Google Contacts could soon let you share your Calling Card with new people without having to call them first.
This will be done by allowing users to add their Calling Card images to VCF files.
However, the recipient must have the Google Contacts app installed to import the Calling Card data.
When Google introduced Calling Cards to the Contacts app last year, it gave Android users a chance to give their calls a more personalized touch. As you probably don’t want your image shown to random strangers, Google limits who can see your visual business card to only your contacts or anyone who has you saved as a contact. However, Google is now working on a third option that could let you share your Calling Card with new people.
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The current two settings work well as privacy-first options, but what if you want to share your Calling Card with someone you recently met? Normally, this would require one of you to initiate a call first. But we recently spotted in version 4.88.28.981523105 of the Google Contacts app that the tech giant is cooking up a solution for this use case.
During our investigation into the app, we found that Google is working on adding support for sharing Calling Cards directly inside of Virtual Contact File (VCF) files. For those who are unfamiliar with .vcf files (a.k.a vCards), they are a standard text format used to store and share contact information like names, phone numbers, and email addresses. They allow you to quickly import contacts straight to your smartphone.
How will Google bundle Calling Card images into VCF files? First, when you select “Share contact” from the contact details page, the built-in sharing sheet will pop up. The interface will prominently display the Calling Card image at the top of the screen. You can see examples of this in the two screenshots above.
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