Customize Chat Bubbles & Have Fun with Google Messages | Android (2024)

With Google Messages, you can customize your experience, ensure private conversations, and enjoy the latest AI features.

Try Google Messages

Highlights

Express yourself in every chat.

Selfie GIFs

Strike a pose and hit send.

Add a fun personal touch to your chats by recording a 3-second animated video that you can share.

Customization

Ditch the default, and choose your colors.

Customize your experience with different colors, emojis and themes, and add extra effects to every conversation.

Photomoji

Snap and share your own customized emoji.

Quickly and easily turn your favorite images into emoji you can share within your chats.

RCS

Hello hi-res, Goodbye blur.

With RCS, you can send and receive high-res photos and videos. You’ll also know when friends have seen your message or when they’re typing a response.*

*In supported conversations when RCS chats are available and turned on.

Selfie GIFs

Strike a pose and hit send.

Add a fun personal touch to your chats by recording a 3-second animated video that you can share.

Customization

Ditch the default, and choose your colors.

Customize your experience with different colors, emojis and themes, and add extra effects to every conversation.

Photomoji

Snap and share your own customized emoji.

Quickly and easily turn your favorite images into emoji you can share within your chats.

RCS

Hello hi-res, Goodbye blur.

With RCS, you can send and receive high-res photos and videos. You’ll also know when friends have seen your message or when they’re typing a response.*

*In supported conversations when RCS chats are available and turned on.

Features

Everything you need.
Built right in.

Privacy & security

Save your chats from spammers.

Keep your messages secure with high-quality privacy controls, spam protection, and RCS- enabled data encryption.

Customize Chat Bubbles & Have Fun with Google Messages | Android (1)

Connectivity

Keep the conversation going across your devices.

Switch from your phone to your tablet to your smart watch during the same conversation without any interruption.

Customize Chat Bubbles & Have Fun with Google Messages | Android (3)

Customization

Text it like you talk it.

Message with your own personality and voice by creating emojis, picking chat colors, and making animated effects pop.

Customize Chat Bubbles & Have Fun with Google Messages | Android (4)

Helpful

Text smarter, not harder.

Get suggested replies, helpful reminders and nudges, and enjoy automatic noise cancellation.

Customize Chat Bubbles & Have Fun with Google Messages | Android (5)

Privacy & security

Save your chats from spammers.

Keep your messages secure with high-quality privacy controls, spam protection, and RCS- enabled data encryption.

Customize Chat Bubbles & Have Fun with Google Messages | Android (6)

AI in Messages

What you want to say, powered by Google AI.

Turn your fave photos into reactions, set the vibe of your chats, and more! Try them out.

Customize Chat Bubbles & Have Fun with Google Messages | Android (7)

Connectivity

Keep the conversation going across your devices.

Switch from your phone to your tablet to your smart watch during the same conversation without any interruption.

Customize Chat Bubbles & Have Fun with Google Messages | Android (8)

Customization

Text it like you talk it.

Message with your own personality and voice by creating emojis, picking chat colors, and making animated effects pop.

Customize Chat Bubbles & Have Fun with Google Messages | Android (9)

Helpful

Text smarter, not harder.

Get suggested replies, helpful reminders and nudges, and enjoy automatic noise cancellation.

Customize Chat Bubbles & Have Fun with Google Messages | Android (10)

Try Google Messages.
Keep what matters.

Keep your data, contacts and chats, and enjoy seamless texting with friends and family, regardless of their device.

Try now

FAQs

Get the answers you need.

Android users can download Google Messages from the Google Play Store.
From there, you can download Google Messages to any Android phone or WearOS device.
For Desktop or Tablet, simply visit messages.google.com, and pair your Android device to get started.

RCS stands for "Rich Communication Services" and is the modern messaging technology standard. RCS offers an upgraded messaging experience by adding features like high-quality photos and videos, typing indicators, and read receipts. RCS capabilities go beyond traditional SMS (Short Message Service).

To sign up for beta testing, you must first have Google Messages installed. Once that has been completed, go to the Google Messages page of the Google Play Store, and select "Join" or "Become a beta tester" at the bottom of the page.

*Please note that beta testing availability may vary based on your region.

For conversations between Google Messages users, end-to-end encryption is now enabled on your Android phone by default.

Custom themes

Pick your own bubble colors.

Customize the color of the text bubble and background for every chat and give each conversation its own unique look.

Animated emoji & reactions

Reactions all your own.

Infuse each message with a burst of visual effects, including animated emojis that appear around the bubbles.

Voice moods

Bring your voice texts to life.

When sending a voice text, you can also choose a visual effect to express your mood.

Photomoji

React in whole new ways.

Steps:
1. Create a new reaction right within the chat window.
2. Just pick an image from your camera roll.

Photomoji

From camera roll to custom emoji.

Just like magic, the subject of the picture is highlighted and automatically turned into a reaction.

Photomoji

Every chat deserves a custom reaction.

Make all of your chats even more you by creating as many personalized reactions as you want.

Spam protection

Bounce the bots.

Google Messages automatically filters out spam and phishing messages, so you never even have to see them.

End-to-end encryption

Enjoy your privacy.

With RCS enabled, your chats are protected by end-to-end encryption. So you can share whatever you need to.

Magic Compose

The perfect text, every time.

Choosing from a range of styles, let Magic Compose turn your text into something totally fun and unexpected.

Photomoji

Turn pics into perfect reactions.

Quickly and easily turn your favorite images into emoji you can share within your chats.

Cross device

Chat across multiple devices.

Never miss a conversation with seamless integration across all your Android devices.

Cross-OS emoji reactions

React dynamically.

Infuse each message with a burst of visual effects, including animated emoji that work across devices and OS.

Google Meet

Get the most out of your video calls.

When texting isn’t enough and things go from “ok” to “OMG.” you can download Google Meet for all of your video call needs.

Voice moods

Bring your voice texts to life.

When sending a voice text, you can also choose a visual effect to express your mood.

Custom bubbles

More you in every chat.

Customize the backgrounds and bubbles of your conversations, and give each contact a different theme.

Reaction effects

Add gestures to every conversation.

React with a simple 👍, and watch as magic unfolds with an animated trio of hands dancing around the message.

Noise cancellation

Silence the noise.

Voice notes now offer noise cancellation, filtering out distracting background sounds when you record a message.

Nudges/Reminders

Never miss a message again.

These helpful reminders ensure you don't forget to respond to messages that need your attention.

Voice transcription

Say it, then send it.

No matter what you’re doing, Voice Transcription helps you communicate when you can’t type, or don't want to.

Hi-res media sharing

Share hi-res photos and videos.

With RCS, you can send your hi-res photos and videos to anyone you want.

Typing indicators

Stop wondering and start knowing.

RCS lets you know when someone has read your message and when they’re typing a response.

Animated emoji & reactions

React dynamically.

Infuse each message with a burst of visual effects, including animated emoji which appear around the bubbles.

Better group chats

Take control of your conversations.

With RCS, name group chats, add or remove people, exit any you’re in, and assign custom colors for everyone.

Selfie GIFs

Say cheese, and share your selfies with ease.

Just long press on the gallery icon, then put your best face forward and record your video. If you like what you see, share with your friends!

Currently in beta

How to Join the Beta: If you have the Google Messages app installed, find it on the Play Store & tap "Join beta" (Availability varies by region.)

Customize Chat Bubbles & Have Fun with Google Messages | Android (2024)

FAQs

How do you get custom bubbles on Google Messages? ›

Tap the three-dot overflow menu in the top right corner of the chat window. Look for the option labeled "Change colours". If you see it, you have access to custom bubbles. Tapping "Change colours" will open a new screen with various colour options for the chat background and message bubbles.

Can you customize chats in Google Messages? ›

To customize the look of your chats, you can select a theme for the background and message bubbles. Note that this will only work for RCS conversations.

What is the bubbles feature in Google Messages? ›

You can control when and how you get notifications for texts and messages from apps. You can also create bubbles for a conversation, which makes it easier to find and respond to messages.

How do I add a theme to Google Messages? ›

Once inside any chat thread, tap on the three dot menu and select "Change colors." This will then open the UI for changing themes, showing you all the color options available, including the default. It should be noted that this works slightly differently on Pixel devices that use Material You dynamic theming.

How do you customize text bubbles? ›

Navigate to Settings > Accessibility > Color and motion. Enable Color correction and pick a mode. Alternatively, apply Color inversion from the same menu for a device-wide color flip. There are also third-party apps that allow more control over changing the text bubble color.

How do you make bubbles in text messages? ›

How to 'bubble' a Messages conversation on Android (and why you should)
  1. Open Messages. The first thing to do is open Messages on your Android device.
  2. Open Settings. Tap your profile photo in the upper right corner and, from the resulting popup, tap Messages settings.
  3. Enable Bubbles. ...
  4. Bubble a conversation.
Aug 10, 2023

What are the different message bubbles? ›

Other types of bubble...
  • Whisper bubble. Used to indicate that a character is talking quietly.
  • Thought bubble. Used to convey what a character is thinking instead of saying.
  • Scream bubble. Used to indicate that a character is shouting or screaming.

What's the difference between messages and Google Messages? ›

Interface: * Layout: Samsung Messages displays conversations from the bottom of the screen, while Google Messages displays them from the top. * Search: Google Messages has a dedicated search bar for searching messages, while Samsung Messages requires tapping a search button to access search.

What are Google Chat features in messages? ›

With Google Chat, you can send a direct message to anyone with a Gmail address or Google account. You can set up group chats with multiple participants or message one-to-one.

Can you customize Google themes? ›

Create your own theme for Chrome through Generative AI. You can choose a subject, style, mood, and color based on your preferences with the Create with AI feature under “Customize Chrome.”

What are RCS messages? ›

Rich Communication Services (RCS) are available on Android devices. How RCS chats work. When you use RCS chats by Google, messages are sent and received through Google's RCS backend over the internet. Messages can either be delivered to or received from users on other RCS service providers.

Can you change the color of your text messages? ›

Activating one of the four color correction options on Android can make text messages more readable for those with color blindness. Launch the Settings app. Scroll down and tap Accessibility. Click Color and motion under the Display section.

How do I set custom notification sounds for Google Messages? ›

Google Messages
  1. Open the app and tap the menu/profile image on the top right.
  2. Select Message settings, or just Settings.
  3. Tap Notifications.
  4. Choose Behavior, sound & more > Incoming messages > Sound. If you don't see that option, go instead to Default > Advanced > Sound. ...
  5. Pick a sound from the collection, then tap Save.
Jan 10, 2024

Can you add reactions to Google Messages? ›

Add a reaction

Tap and hold a message. Choose an emoji reaction.

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