The People API lets you:
- Read and manage the authenticated user'sContacts
- Read and copy the authenticated user's"Other contacts"
- Read profile information for authenticated users and their contacts
- Read domain profiles and contacts
For example, suppose that the authenticated user, Jen, has Fabian and Ranjith in
her private contacts. When your app calls
people.connections.listto read a
list of her connections, Jen is presented with a consent screen asking to give
the app access to the list. If Jen consents, the app reads a list containing
person resourcesfor Fabian and Ranjith.
If the app needs information for a specific person, it can then call
people.get,passing in a resource name, to get
theperson resourcefor that person.
The app can also manage contacts by creating new contacts using
people.createContact,update existing
contacts it has read from
people.connections.listusing
people.updateContact,and delete contacts
usingpeople.deleteContact.
Google Workspace users can also list their directory domain profiles and domain
contacts using
people.listDirectoryPeopleor search
them using
people.searchDirectoryPeople.
A merged view of people information
The people information that the People API reads is merged from various sources, depending on the following conditions:
| Source | Condition |
|---|---|
| Public Google profile data | Always. |
| Google Workspace domain profile data | The domain admin hasenabled external contact and
profile
sharing
of domain-scoped data and thedirectory.readonly
scopehas been
granted |
| The authenticated user's private profile information | One of theprofile
scopeshas
been granted. |
| The authenticated user's contacts | Thecontacts
scopehas been
granted. |
Understanding Merged Person Data
The data for a person is derived from one main source type. Data from other sources is merged with this data if the sources are connected through verified email addresses, phone numbers, or profile URLs. These are the ways a person may be composed:
| Main Source | Contacts | Profiles | Google Workspace Domain Profiles | Google Workspace Domain Contacts | Usage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contact | 1 | 0+ | 0+ | 0+ | Returned for most endpoints |
| Profile | 0+ | 1 | 0 or 1 | 0 | Returned inpeople.getwhen it is used to get the personfor the signed-in useror get a person foranother user's Google Account. |
| Domain Contact | 0+ | 0 | 0 | 1 | Returned inpeople.listDirectoryPeopleorpeople.searchDirectoryPeople. |
Only contact based people can be modified by mutation endpoints. Profile and domain contact mutations are not supported.