Google Messages showing read receipts in the conversation list

Abner Li | Apr 13 2023 - 1:24 pm PT

Last month, Google made the new Messages read receipt icons official, and the company is now testing putting that status directly in your conversation list.

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Instead of having to open a conversation and look in the bottom-right corner, Google Messages is placing the new read check marks directly in your inbox.

To the left of your message (“You:”), there will be a pair of checks when your message has been delivered or a color-filled pair of checks after it’s read.

The icons here will definitely catch your eye and save some time. However, the design of the new read system makes the conversation list a bit too crowded. The check marks placed in circles look like text, while the colored-in variants are a bit jarring and really stand out against the dark background.

Meanwhile, Google Messages is also testing a precise unread count at the right underneath the time/date. It replaces the dot, which did not note how many new messages you have and was much smaller. There are no changes to how the message gets bolded.

Neither of these changes in the beta channel are widely rolled out yet.