Here’s an under looked feature that allows your Android status bar to display contact pictures for conversation messages from people and groups you care about. Instead of a generic messenger app icon, you’ll see the face of the person who messaged you.
Normally when you receive a chat message, you’ll see a notification icon representing the app that facilitates the conversation. You may see the icon for Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, or your SMS messaging app, but you’ll need to pull down your notifications to see the message and who sent it.
With a quick visit to Settings, you can set conversations you care about as priority conversations, and they will henceforth receive their own dedicated notification icon, made distinct with the contact photo of the user who sent the message. For group chats, some applications let you set a group picture which will also be used for notifications.
To set your conversations, go to Settings > Notifications > Conversations. From there you’ll see a list of your recent notifications from message-related apps. Tap the one you want to adjust, and set it as Priority.
With these set, you’ll know at a glance when you have messages from important people and groups in your life. Even if your lock screen hides details, the icon itself will be informative to you. This is particularly useful if your screen has an always-on-display.
I use a four leaf clover for my family chat, a colorful D20 die for my tabletop games group, and contact photos for my closest friends and family.
The same menu also allows you to see a custom notification sound for these conversation notifications, so you’ll know who the message was from before you even look.
