Following Gmail for some users and Photos, Google Messages is beginning to roll out a Material 3 Expressive redesign of just the chat interface.
The main change to the conversation screen is placing the message thread in a container with rounded corners at the top so that the app bar is its own (darker) layer.
Similarly, the ‘plus’ menu is a separate container with Gallery, GIFs, Stickers, etc. placed in pill-shaped containers instead of circles. It’s using the same background as the app bar. Google has also lowered the density of this grid and removed the colorful icons.
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When you open the emoji menu, you’ll see the connected button group used to switch between Emoji, GIFs, Stickers, and Photomoji (which has been moved to the very end after being the first item in the current design). The entire thing is a rounded container with the current tab you’re viewing a pill. A nice change involves the search bar moving one line down so you don’t have back-to-back text fields.
We’ve so far received one report of this going live with beta version 20250528_00_RC00 of Google Messages, specifically the Samsung variant. We’re not seeing it on other devices we checked today.
No other part of the app (homepage, search, settings, etc.) has been updated today. It seems like we’re in for a piecemeal approach to Material 3 Expressive in Google Messages. Meanwhile, the app historically has a long lead time between beta/first appearance and wide availability.
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More on Google Messages:
Google Messages updating ‘New chat’ contacts list to show who has RCS
Google says 1 billion RCS messages are sent daily in the US following iPhone adoption
Key Verifier will offer advanced protection against Google Messages scams
Thanks Toby
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