Chethan is a reporter at Android Police, focusing on the news coverage for the site. He has covered tech for over a decade for multiple publications, including Times Internet, Guiding Tech, Android Headlines, and several others.
His love for Android dates back to the Samsung/Google Nexus S, and his first Android phone was the HTC Desire HD in 2010.
Away from work, he’s on the lookout for live cricket streams or NBA highlights. He also enjoys the occasional hour or two of console/mobile gaming whenever time permits.
While Google Messages offers plenty in terms of functionality, the app’s look and feel has felt quite dated, especially compared to apps like WhatsApp. The latter lets you customize your chats extensively and add custom images as chat backgrounds. Although Google’s messaging app doesn’t offer such functionality yet, a report in April suggested it was about to change.
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Looking into a recent beta of Google Messages (messages.android_20260523_00_RC00), the publication has discovered the addition of “Chat themes” within the three-dot menu, replacing the existing “Change colors” option.
As you can see above, the Chat themes page comprises a collection of colors, followed by a selection of preloaded wallpapers from Google (Cityscape, Art, Landscape, Space, Vibes, Textures, and Abstract). The big addition here is the Choose a photo pill, which lets you add a picture from your Gallery as the chat background.
This tool also comes with a convenient Reset to default button on the Preview page if you’ve gone through all the categories of preset backgrounds and want to start afresh. As the site rightly points out, some portions of the chat can be obscured, especially when using a darker wallpaper.
It will be interesting to see whether Google Messages fixes this ahead of the feature’s broader rollout or leaves it to users’ best judgment to choose a wallpaper that won’t clash with the onscreen text and other elements.
A feature like this already exists in Samsung Messages, which is going away for good in July, with Samsung notifying users to switch over to Google’s messaging app. So if you’re a Samsung Messages user who is disappointed with the lack of customizable chat backgrounds, this upcoming addition to Google Messages should come as good news.
Why does it feel a step behind other messaging apps?
Save for one minor concern with darker backgrounds, this upcoming feature seems to work as it should. Keeping this in mind, it is speculated that the feature may reach the beta channel imminently, thereby giving a large section of Google Messages users the chance to try it out.
Hopefully, Google won’t take too long to bring this feature to the stable channel, given that several other messaging apps already offer a similar chat customization option. This will be a significant improvement over the existing chat customization experience, which only lets you change the colors of the backgrounds and bubbles and offers few options.
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Do they really think this is going to appease the Samsung users who don’t want to be forced to switch?
Man, I am so with you! I just made the switch a few days ago, and I do not like Google Messages at all. I’m really bummed about Samsung Messages going away. I especially love using themes from Samsung, and I already miss those customizations to Samsung Messages. I have spent tons of money on themes over the years, and I wonder if that will still be worth it — because I have a lot on my wish list 🙂
Google messages is so far behind other apps like Textra feature wise. If it wasn’t for RCS functionality or if they even give RCS access to other app I’d switch in a second. Not giving RCS access to other apps sounds like grounds for a nice federal anti-trust lawsuit!
Just took a look @ textra. After a quick dl and delete, looks like it’s stuck back in whatever version of android we were on whenever it first came out. Visually, wildly out of date. Didn’t notice any mind-blowing features either.
Wow! How exciting. So much time and effort and yet nothing to actually enhance um… messaging.
You forgot to put /s 🤣🤣
Ah yes, let’s work us childish options instead of functionality
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That’s nice. Now if they just get the features working that they already have, like livetranslate which hasn’t worked 2 years.
How exciting, im looking forward to the new rollout to personalize my own messages.
Oh wow, look at the pittance they are giving Samsung message users. I like to use Themes and part of that is the ability to incorporate that into messages. I am not at all happy about being forced to use a messaging app that is so incredibly inferior. If I wanted apple like messaging I’d buy an dang iphone 😝
I don’t need all that fluff.
What I need is for Google to make it easier to use messages on any device without all the clunky sync maneuvers required to do so.
I jealously watch all my Apple friends log into any Apple device and instantly have their iMessage app ready and waiting by default. Why doesn’t Google emulate that convenience rather than all this cosmetic fluff?
I just want to keep using categories
I’m confused. I’ve been using Google Messages for a couple of years because we were told back then that Samsung messages was going away. Did it not go away or is this something different.
I hated Google Messages for a while. But I got used to it.
No,these people all just ignored it and kept using something they were told would be phased out. I personally think it’s ridiculous how many options there are for communication apps. Hopefully RCS will replace them all as a universal chat, but if customized eye candy is more important than the actual exchange of information there are plain text alternatives still out there…
I’d like to see Google merge Messages and Chat* to create a universal iMessage like platform that can intelligently handle encrypted IMs, RCS & SMS messages under a single roof. Just type the message and the service sends via the most secure method based on shared platforms, message format etc.
(*Either folding one into the other going from 2 to a single app, or by keeping both as is and making a new third service)
Gemini intergration. If we’re talking about movies it can surface show times, restaurant suggestions etc…
Incorporate privacy features, like the ability to spin off a private peer to peer chat room allowing us to chat without going through a Google server.
I believe they both integrate AI like you mentioned. Chat is more for corporate business and projects, it’s definitely better for focusing on a subject, while messages is more about the individuals communicating, but I can totally see where it would be easy enough to fold RCS messages into Chat and be done….
Wrong. This isn’t message categories.