Google Messages on your Samsung phone gets an important UI design change

Recently, Google pushed a new update that replaces the word ‘Chats' in Google Messages with the word ‘RCS' giving a clear indication that the company is very comfortable making RCS consumer-friendly. After months of testing, Google has now rolled out another feature for Google Messages, which comes pre-installed on Galaxy smartphones in many countries. Notably, as per new reports, Google Messages is now widely getting the vertical photo picker feature.

As seen in the latest beta update (Google Messages beta messages.android_20230224_04_RC00.phone.openbeta_dynamic), when you open the photo gallery in a conversation, instead of a grid photo picker, the Google Messages app shows a vertically scrollable photo picker browse.

On the left, you get the same camera live preview, and next to it, you will get a ‘Folders' shortcut. The last image is shown at the bottom with a much larger preview. Swiping up this new vertical photo picker shows you fifteen images with full visibility. Previously, you were only shown six square previews of your images.

The feature, though, has already been available for some users since September, and others started receiving it recently. The wider availability of the RCS Chats rebrand is also picking up pace. To get this new feature, you need to get yourself enrolled in the Google Messages beta program. You can do that by heading over to this website.

Sagar Naresh

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Google Messages on your Galaxy phone gets an important UI design change

Sagar Naresh