The Contact Photos feature allows an iPhone user to assign to each contact a picture or image that will pop up on the screen when that person makes a call to the user that rings through the Phone app. It is also displayed on the screen during FaceTime calls, and in the Messages app, you can see the image in conversation lists and inside messages. The image also appears on the Share Sheet to help you identify a person you want to send content to. Again, the iOS 18.5 beta 2 release will allow users to toggle the feature off in the iOS Mail app.
Apple releases iOS 18.5 beta 2. | Image credit-PhoneArena
Let’s be clear about this. There always was another way to disable Contact Photos in the Mail app without relying on this toggle but you would have to go to the Settings app and scroll to the bottom to tap on Apps. The entire journey looks like this: Settings > Apps > Mail > Toggle off Show Contacts Photo.
With iOS 18.5 beta 2 installed, the process is streamlined. Open the native Mail app and tap the three-button menu icon on the right side of the screen. That will bring up a small menu with the last item reading “Show Contact Photos.” If you see a checkmark at the beginning of that line, it means that Contract Photos is enabled. If you want to disable it, tap it again and the checkmark will drop off. That means the feature is disabled.
Even though the release is for developers, Apple has stopped charging to be listed as such. When you sign up to join the iOS beta program, signing up as a developer means that you will get first crack at beta releases. That’s great if you like to show off. But it also means that if there is an issue with the release, you’ll be stuck with it until a fix is released. Typically, Apple waits a few days between dropping the developer and public beta releases precisely for this reason.
