Google Messages rolls out custom RCS conversation color themes more widely

Google Messages rolls out custom RCS conversation color themes more widely،

Last November, Google announced new features for its Messages app as part of its celebration of reaching the milestone of one billion monthly active RCS users. Many of these promised features, such as animated emoji, Photomoji, and screen effects, have already been rolled out to users. However, there is one feature that has taken a while to roll out widely: custom themes. Custom Themes was announced as a personalization feature that would allow users to change the bubble and background colors of individual conversations. Presumably, this feature was intended to eliminate the limitations of blue and green bubbles and help users differentiate conversations.

However, according to Android Font, it appears that this feature is currently being rolled out on a larger scale. Although some users started seeing this option with the latest beta version of the Google Messages app (v20240308), I myself received the update without updating my app (still in beta version 20240228), which suggests it's a server-side push. check if the feature is available for you, first you need to make sure you are in an RCS chat, as this feature does not work with SMS/MMS conversations. Once in any thread, tap the three-dot menu and select “Change Colors”. This will then open the UI for changing themes, showing you all the available color options, including the default one.

Theme options on a Google Pixel device

Theme options on a Samsung Galaxy device

It's worth noting that this works slightly differently on Pixel devices that use the Material You dynamic theme. When I tested on a Pixel, the theme affected both the conversation background and the bubble color. On a Samsung Galaxy device, however, this only changed the color of the bubble.

Additionally, when you successfully change the theme, you will receive a small notification at the bottom saying “You have changed the theme”, which also gives you a quick shortcut to change the theme again. Good theme!