Picture Credit : Droid-Life
Guess what, it seems that Google uploaded two essential stock Android apps — Phone and Contacts — to the Google Play Store for a brief time a couple of hours ago, but sadly, changed its mind later on and took both apps down.
We don't know what caused this abrupt removal of the two essential Android apps from the app repository. It seems that the tech giant has been entertaining the idea of decoupling the two apps from stock Android for some time now, as it has already done so with a great number of core apps, like Camera, Keyboard, Calendar, the Google Now Launcher, and others. Initially, these were not available on the Play Store, were indivisible part of the Android OS.
The reason why Google decouples its apps to the Play Store is to push updates more easily and in a more timely manner. It seems that this is the case with Contacts and Phone. In particular, Google's Phone scores a call blocking feature, as well as a nifty Caller ID feature for businesses. Visual voicemail is also on board, but it's currently available only to users of Google's Project Fi, T-Mobile, or Orange. Users can now also search for nearby places' numbers straight from the search bar in Phone. Contacts, on the other hand, has only scored streamlined contact editing, possibly a revamped contact linking interface, as well as some bug fixes and improvements.
Have in mind that you can only install the two apps on devices that have their previous versions preinstalled, which kind of limits the pool to Nexus, Android One, and Google Play Edition devices. What's more, you need to have Android 6.0 Marshmallow running the show.
Do not regret the removal of the apps, though, as nothing is ever lost on the interwebs - despite the fact that Google pulled them down, willing adopters that meet the above-mentioned requirements can sideload the two apps. The APK files are available for download right below. Be sure that we will update you if Google re-uploads the two apps to the Play Store again.
Download: Google Phone | Google Contacts
