Google explains why some users are seeing the Phone and Contacts apps in the Play Store
Like Google has done with most of its system apps, the company is now updating these two directly from the Play Store. This gives Google flexibility to add in a new feature, fix a bug, or make other tweaks without pushing out an Android update.
But there was a bit of a mystery in how this was being implemented. The apps appeared for some, then were gone, then were back again, then were gone again... they don’t appear in the Play Store or in my list of previously updated apps. They updated, then promptly vanished.
We reached out to Google to find out what was up, and got the following statement:
So if you have a device that runs the Google Phone and Contacts app already (A Nexus device, Android One, or Google Play Edition phone) you'll eventually see them pop up in the Play Store. But if you're running any other phone and looking forward to downloading these stock Google apps, you're still out of luck.
Why this matters: It’s good news if you have a Nexus device (or are still holding onto a Google Play Edition phone) as it means new features may come your way before everybody else waits for an Android update. We’d love to see Google make these apps available to all users, as the dialer and contacts management tools on some phones leave a lot to be desired.