Google Messages is getting closer to livening up your chats with custom backgrounds

The last days of Samsung Messages are upon us, as the company gets ready to shutter the app once and for all in just a couple months. As the last of those hold-outs consider their options, we’ve been tracking some efforts from Google Messages to spruce itself up with fancy new Samsung-like features, including a way to customize the appearance of chats. While that’s still not ready to go, we’ve found some new signs of progress there, as well as work on a smart tweak to how you configure Smart Replies.

When we last checked in with Messages chat theming, we saw a number of text strings referencing not just custom colors, but also the ability to upload photos and set custom chat backgrounds. Looking through the new messages.android_20260508_02_RC00.phone.openbeta_dynamic release, we’ve identified further work on that support.

The app’s manifest now features a receiver that clearly identifies as being meant for custom backgrounds. That’s not much, granted, but shows that Google is still actively working on developing this feature.

Smart Replies can be handy, letting you effortlessly keep a conversation going, but not everybody wants this experience to be quite so hands-off. Earlier this year, we saw Google Messages start giving users a little more control over what happens when they tap on a Smart Reply, either sending the message intact, or pulling it up for edits first. Here’s what that interface has looked like so far:

While that absolutely works for letting you choose Smart Reply behavior, it’s also maybe a little unintuitive as a UI element. After all, toggles like this are traditionally used for turning features on or off. And while you could frame this as turning instant-send on or off, it’s probably more accurately characterized as a choice between two different behaviors.

Perhaps as a result of this, we’re seeing developers consider a reorganization of these settings, moving Smart Reply options to their own screen with a clear choice between draft or send behavior.

Sure, that’s not quite as dense as the old look (and there’s a lot to be said for keeping all your related controls packed conveniently together), but this makes it much easier for users who may not be familiar with the app to understand what their options really are.

We’ll keep watching Messages updates for further progress on both of these changes, and hopefully be able to show you that chat theming in action soon.