After months of small updates packed with new features, Google is ready to deliver a big visual overhaul to its Messages app. It will bring its Material 3 Expressive design everywhere and revamp the “Plus” button with emoji and GIF options.
At first glance, Google Messages may not look very different, but once you start digging into settings and adding emojis, you’ll notice everything is clean, new, and easier to understand. Google has slowly added Material 3 Expressive design elements to many of its apps, including Messages, and now the main chat screen and add-on menus are refreshed.
First spotted by 9to5Google, the biggest change is to the “Plus” menu inside Google Messages. With the latest update rolling out this week, you’ll see a menu similar to the images below. The old colorful circular icons for the Gallery, GIFs, Stickers, Magic Compose, Files, Location, and more have been swapped for pill-shaped black-and-white buttons.
Previously, when you tapped the (+) to add stickers, emoji, or a GIF, all the buttons were colorful and in no particular order, and the search button was near the text input field. I don’t know how many times I’ve tried to type a word to find a GIF, only to realize I entered it into the chat window instead of the GIF search bar.
Now, Google has separated the text message field with a new square button for adding an emoji, GIF, stickers, or photomoji, with the search section below it. This way, you won’t accidentally text someone a word when you meant to search for that word to find a GIF. Furthermore, each section changes from a square to a circle pill-shaped button to clarify which tab you’re actively looking at.
Sure, this is a small change in the grand scheme of things, but it delivers a clean, tidy, easy-to-understand experience for Google Messages. Things aren’t so messy and close together.
Other small changes include a revamped top bar inside Google Messages, where you’ll see shortcut buttons for calls and additional menu controls. The colorful wallpaper in some areas is gone and replaced with a solid background in both light and dark modes. That’s not as “expressive” as before, but it matches the rest of the app and gives it a tidier look.
In related news, earlier this week, Google Messages got a new feature that lets you QR-code verify encrypted messages, making it easy to know who you’re chatting with and that the communications are secure. And earlier this month, the sensitive content warnings from the beta channel started rolling out to all users.
I’m happy with some of these changes, but I’m still waiting for Google to once again redesign the media controls for taking photos or adding images from the gallery to a message. It’s tried a few different looks, but most users don’t seem to enjoy the changes. We’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, enjoy all these new Material 3 Expressive changes, easier emoji pickers, and more.
Source: 9to5Google