Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google Messages shows further signs of progress on letting users set custom themes for chats.
- More work on the back end implements support for custom background wallpapers.
- Messages is also tweaking how users control Smart Reply behavior.
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.
AssembleDebug / Android Authority
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.
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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.
⚠️ An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Custom themes for chats — further backend work implements support for custom background wallpapers, including uploading photos as chat backgrounds.
The messages.android_20260508_02_RC00.phone.openbeta_dynamic release's manifest now features a receiver clearly meant for custom backgrounds — showing Google is actively developing it.
More control over Smart Reply behavior — earlier this year Messages started letting users choose whether tapping a Smart Reply sends it intact or pulls it up for edits first; new work tweaks that UI.
Samsung Messages is being shuttered in a couple of months, so Google is sprucing up Messages with fancy features to win over hold-outs.
