I’ve been using the Gmail app on my phone and I see that certain businesses like Netflix and Best Buy show their actual company logos beside their emails. But most other senders just have a circle with their first initial letter inside it.
Is there a way to set up a custom profile image for my work email account that isn’t hosted by Google? I want my emails to display a proper avatar instead of just showing the default letter circle when people receive messages from me.
I’ve tried looking through the account settings but can’t find any option to upload or change the profile picture for non-Google email addresses. Does anyone know if this is even possible or if there are specific steps I need to follow?
I had the exact same problem with my work email. Those logos you’re seeing (like Netflix) aren’t something you can set up in Gmail - they come from the sender’s domain settings. Companies use something called BIMI authentication on their mail servers to show their logos. For your work email, you’d need your IT team to set this up on the server side. It needs domain verification and specific DNS records. There’s no way to add a custom avatar through the Gmail app for external accounts - the profile picture stuff only works for actual Google accounts. Your recipients will keep seeing that letter circle unless your company sets up the proper email authentication.
true, it really is frustrating! those logos come from BIMI, which isn’t available for personal accounts - need special settings & verifications. u will have to stick with the default letters for non-Google emails, sadly.
Unfortunately, you can’t control this from your end through the Gmail app. What you’re seeing with Netflix and Best Buy happens at their corporate email server level - not something individual users set up. These companies configured their mail infrastructure with proper authentication protocols that let their brand logos display automatically. For your work email, you’d need to contact your company’s IT department or email admin to explore setting up similar branding features on your organization’s mail server. The Gmail mobile app doesn’t let you upload custom avatars for external email accounts - it only pulls whatever image data the sending domain provides. Without server-side changes, recipients will keep seeing that default initial circle.