It’s not hyperbolic to say that Google has been very thirsty about Nano Banana following its viral success. In Google Messages, the access points for the Nano Banana-powered Remix are being greatly toned down following the November launch.
When you long-press on an image in a conversation, the “Remix” pill with a glow in the bottom-left corner is now appreciably smaller. The more important change is how Google has removed the banana emoji. In its place is a generic image icon badged with an AI sparkle.
I personally didn’t mind the Remix button at its original size, but the emoji was pretty distracting and harder to ignore alongside text.
Old vs. new
Meanwhile, Google has removed the Remix button entirely from the redesigned fullscreen viewer to let you clearly see the image without obstruction. (Tip: Tap again to hide everything but the image.)
That button has been moved to the bottom-left corner and is now a circle next to the comment count. The two side-by-side shapes look a bit busy, but it does get the job done.
Google in early December said it was “actively working on improvements and refining the feature to make it smoother, more user-friendly, and enjoyable for everyone” in response to your feedback.
We’re seeing these Nano Banana Remix changes with the latest Google Messages beta (version 20251212_00_RC01).
Google is also testing a Nano Banana button at the top of the Google app that opens Lens to the Create tab. Similarly, following the launch of Nano Banana Pro, gemini.google.com advertised it with a banner that would reappear with every page load. Overall, I think Google should begin to phase out the banana emoji icon for something subtler.
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