Google Messages

The interface for typing and sending messages in a chat app has been on my mind lately given Google’s addition of Magic Compose (too crowded) and the redesign Apple is doing in iOS 17 (too simple).

While AT&T announced that it would use Google’s Messages app for RCS in June of 2021, the carrier maintained its own backend. That’s now changing with AT&T switching over to Google’s Jibe platform for RCS.

One exciting generative AI announcement out of I/O 2023 was Magic Compose in Android’s Messages app, and Google is now starting to roll out the feature to some beta testers.

Google Wallet is getting a handful of new features at I/O 2023, including a Messages RCS integration for flight boarding passes.

During Google I/O 2023, it was announced that the Google Messages app is gaining a generative AI tool called “Magic Compose.”

Here’s a first look at the upcoming generative AI-powered “Magic Compose” feature coming to Google Messages, which can write a meaningful reply to a message or wax poetic with a song.

After first appearing last month, the Google Messages “Send photos faster” option is more widely rolling out, and we’ve done some quick tests on how it impacts file size, resolution, and quality.

While Android 14 Beta 1.1 from last week should alleviate some issues, a different bug with the latest beta version of Google Messages has emerged today that makes the RCS client unusable.

RCS has grown significantly over the past few years, but one gaping hole in the product was support for end-to-end encryption. Now, after a few months of testing, Google appears to be rolling out, or at least testing, end-to-end encryption for RCS group chats in stable Google Messages updates.

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.

With RCS, pictures that you send and receive are much higher resolution than they would be via MMS, but Google Messages is now testing a “Send photos faster” setting.

Back in December, Google rolled out a unified Pixel Launcher search experience, and a small tweak now sees a different Messages shortcut.

Vodafone is pulling the plug on its own RCS implementation in the coming days, with an alert to customers going out now.

Have you ever been unsure of how best to reply to a friend? Google Messages is readying a new AI generation feature that could make replying to text messages easy as can be.

Google introduced voice message transcription with the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro before later making it available to older generations. Google Messages is now improving the creation experience with a redesign of the voice recorder UI in development. 

After testing in October, Google Messages looks to be widely rolling out a redesign of read receipts with icons replacing words (sent, delivered, and read).

Back in November, Google started testing a vertical photo gallery in Messages for Android, and the scrolling picker is now seeing wider availability.

With every app change, learning new icons and tools is an adjustment period. The Google Messages app is going through that now, changing up what a sent, delivered, and read message icon looks like. Here’s how to read those icons to know what your RCS message is doing.

Since last year’s “Get the Message” advertising campaign online and in New York City, awareness of Rich Communication Services (RCS) is growing more mainstream. Google is now making RCS even more consumer-facing by prominently surfacing the name of the standard — a brand, of sorts — in Messages for Android.