Google Messages has been on a tear lately when it comes to new features, which makes a lot of sense considering Samsung shut down its own Messages app on July 6, 2026. Clearly, there are some big shoes to fill here, so Google has now been polishing this thing up pretty quickly. While plenty of these tweaks are small on their own, they do add up together.
Some of them change how your chats actually look. One of them, called Chat theme, is a new customization tool that's been trickling out to beta testers over the past couple of months. Android Authority spotted it tucked inside a late-May build, though as of writing, it hasn't reached us yet. This one's pretty comprehensive and lets you change the entire color scheme of the chat — background, bubbles, and all. You can even slap a new wallpaper on, which you can pull out of your own gallery or borrow from Google's ready-made sets. The catch is that only you ever see the changes. Still, it's a much-needed addition considering Samsung Messages has had its own for ages, as does Apple's Messages.
The second major feature is more cross-platform, geared towards making chats with iPhone users more interactive. Despite past updates, RCS chats between Android and iOS still don't provide the same experience as they would when they're on the same platform, so these upgrades are a long time coming. The features first arrived with the second iOS 27 developer beta. Let's take a look at it and more.
Smoother chats with iPhone users and cleaner menus
When stable iOS 27 arrives, RCS-enabled chats between Android and iPhone will finally get quoted replies and real emoji reactions to photos. Originally, when an iPhone replied to a specific message in an RCS chat, Google Messages wouldn't show it as a true reply, since support for this didn't exist on the iOS end. However, when iOS 27 rolls out, the quoted messages would indeed show as quoted messages on the Android end. The same goes for reactions to photos, which will soon work as intended. iOS finally adding proper support for RCS, the modern texting standard that replaced SMS, is what makes both work.
The toolbar that pops up when long-pressing a message is also getting a makeover. Currently, it's confined to a skinny strip that shows up at the top of the screen, which is a pain to reach one-handed. Soon, it will be replaced by a floating menu that surfaces closer to the message itself. First caught by 9to5Google in a January 2026 beta, it hasn't rolled out widely. This ergonomic improvement is part of a broader trend in Google's Material Design language toward thumb-friendly interfaces.
The more useful change is a new gesture, where swiping left on a thread will show you when it was sent plus the encryption lock. Previously, you had to view this information by tapping individual messages separately. Now, you see the whole thing in a single swipe. To be clear, this is different from the right swipe, which lets you reply to the text. Again, this change is currently in beta and hasn't been rolled out to all as of writing.
Sharing on Messages gets better too
Then there are the changes around sharing. A Reddit user in early July spotted a new tweak where, when you send something to a batch of contacts, you get two buttons at the bottom. One of them lets you fire off the text to each person in their own private thread — which Messages could already do. The problem with this single option was that if you needed to send a single item to one group chat — say an invite to an event you're planning — you'd have to create that group chat beforehand. Now, a second button beside the "share individually" option labeled "Send to a group" creates a group chat with those selected contacts.
At the same time, Messages is also getting smarter with duplicates. So if a group chat already exists with the same set of contacts you just selected, it drops the text into the existing thread instead – rather than spinning up an identical second one. For now, these changes are reportedly a limited server-side test. This kind of intelligent grouping reduces clutter and ensures conversations stay cohesive, a feature power users have requested for years.
Forwarding is also getting some love. Android Authority dug this out of a beta teardown around the same stretch in early July. Soon, you will be able to forward several messages at once instead of one at a time. You will tick the ones you want (images included), choose where they go, and see a preview of the batch before sending. This cuts out the busywork since forwarding more than a couple of things currently means repeating the whole process for each one.
These updates come at a pivotal moment for Google Messages. With Samsung's departure, Google's app becomes the de facto default for Android users worldwide. The company is under pressure to match not only Samsung's feature set but also the polish of Apple's iMessage. RCS adoption has grown steadily, but cross-platform parity remains elusive. The addition of quoted replies and proper emoji reactions in RCS chats with iPhone users addresses one of the biggest friction points. Similarly, the Chat themes give users a level of personalization that was previously limited to third-party apps or workarounds.
Behind the scenes, Google is also improving the underlying RCS infrastructure. The upcoming features rely on the Universal Profile 2.0 specification, which adds support for richer message types and better interoperability. Google has been working with carriers and device makers to ensure these features work reliably across different networks and phone models. The beta testing cycles have been more aggressive this year, with multiple builds containing experimental features that get iterated based on user feedback.
For businesses, the sharing improvements are particularly relevant. Group creation from the share sheet means event planners and team coordinators can quickly spin up temporary chats without navigating away from the content they're sharing. The duplicate detection prevents confusion when the same group of people receives multiple invitations or updates in parallel threads. Batch forwarding is a boon for anyone who needs to relay a series of instructions or media files — a common scenario in family groups, project teams, or social circles.
The long-press menu redesign addresses a long-standing ergonomic complaint. On larger phones, reaching the top of the screen with one hand is awkward. Google's floating context menu appears near the selected message, making it easier to react, reply, or forward without adjusting your grip. This follows similar refinements in Google Photos and Gmail, where contextual menus have migrated from fixed positions to dynamic overlays. The swipe-left gesture for message details also aligns with the modern gesture-based navigation that Android has championed since Android 10.
Looking ahead, Google is expected to roll out these features to stable builds in the coming months. The Chat themes may arrive first, as they've been in beta since May. The RCS cross-platform improvements depend on Apple's iOS 27 release, which is slated for September 2026. The sharing enhancements and gesture changes are likely to hit stable by the end of the third quarter. Users who are part of the Google Messages beta program can already test some of these features, though availability varies by device and region.
As Google Messages evolves into the single messaging hub for Android, these much-needed changes bring it closer to parity with its competitors. The combination of visual customization, cross-platform compatibility, and smarter sharing workflows should satisfy both casual users and power users alike. The fact that many of these features were already present in Samsung Messages or iMessage underscores how long they've been anticipated. Now, with a clear path forward and a unified platform, Google Messages is poised to deliver a messaging experience that finally feels complete.
Source: SlashGear News