Google Messages

This app is now officially just “Google Messages” after years of being called “Messages by Google.” It dovetails with how Google, in February, started referring to “RCS” directly after years of “Chat message” in the compose field. A bigger moment in 2023, along with 1 billion monthly active users, was Google enabling RCS by default and launching end-to-end encryption for group conversations.

Announced at I/O 2023, Google started rolling out Magic Compose at the end of May. After initially being limited to the US, Magic Compose in Google Messages is now seeing some international availability.

As we previously spotted and enabled, Google Messages is now rolling out Google Account-based “Device pairing” that replaces QR codes.

Google is rolling out a background wallpaper for RCS chats in Messages to help distinguish them from SMS/MMS conversations.

Android 14 introduced a “Data sharing updates for location” dashboard. Users were warned today that Google Messages is sharing location data with third parties, but this is not the case.

Google Messages is finally rolling out the feature that lets you turn images into emojis, or at least something similar. The new integrates so well you might miss it, so this guide will go through how to create Photomoji in Google Messages.

In addition to getting seven new features yesterday, “Messages by Google” was quietly renamed to “Google Messages.”

With Google making Profiles in Messages official yesterday, one thing you’ll notice is how those images will replace any contact photos you have manually set.

There are now over 1 billion monthly active users with RCS enabled in Messages, and Google is celebrating by adding a ton of whimsy to the app across emoji (with Photomoji), voice recording, and customization.

With the addition of Magic Compose, we noted how the Google Messages text field was getting too cluttered, but a redesign is now on the way, while each contact’s profile page is also getting overhauled.  

In the past month, Messages for Android rolled out a new homescreen that removed the top search field, and Google is now adding a camera shortcut to the app bar.

As we’ve been tracking, Google is now beginning to roll out “Profile discovery” in Messages for Android to establish your name and photo across the RCS app and others. 

For the past several months, Google Messages has been working on a Profiles feature, and we now have a better idea of what it’s for.

Google Messages is preparing an easier way to pair your phone and send messages from the web browser, and there’s a fun emoji twist.

Update: The new pairing flow is beginning to appear on the web, revealing more about how it works.

We’ve been tracking a big redesign of the voice recorder UI in Google Messages over the past few months, and it now appears to be rolling out for the first users.

Following the announcement last month, Google Messages is rolling out the ability to send and listen to voice memos from the Wear OS app.