Google Messages celebrates 1 billion RCS users with 7 new features

Google Messages, the default messaging app for Pixel and other Android smartphones, has surpassed one billion monthly active users with RCS enabled. This milestone represents a significant advancement in the adoption of RCS, a modern messaging standard that provides a more advanced and secure texting experience than the outmoded SMS and MMS protocols.

RCS improves the messaging experience with features like as typing indicators, read receipts, threaded responses, high-quality media sharing, improved group chats, and greater privacy with end-to-end encryption. To commemorate this new milestone, the firm praised its partners and customers for their support of RCS and announced the addition of seven new capabilities to the Messages app.: Photomoji, Voice Moods, Screen Effects, Custom Bubbles, Reaction Effects, Animated Emoji, and Profiles.

Photomoji

Photomoji uses on-device Google AI to translate users' favorite photographs into replies. Simply choose a photo, then select the thing you want to transform into a Photomoji and send it. These creations can be saved for later use, and your Photomojis can even be used in group conversations.

Voice Moods and Improved Audio Quality

Voice Moods personalize voice messages by adding nine different moods. Choose from heart-eye emoji, fireballs, or party poppers to accompany your voice message. Additionally, increasing bitrate and sample rate have improved audio quality.

Screen Effects

Messages are transformed into dazzling visual presentations using Screen Effects. Typing lines like "it's snowing" or "I love you" will cause bright animations to appear on the screen. Explore with your buddies to find all of the hidden Screen Effects prompt words.

Custom Bubbles

Custom Bubbles let users change the color and background of individual discussions. Change the color of each chat to avoid the constraints of blue versus green bubbles. This allows you to distinguish between discussions and avoid sending messages to the wrong person.

Reaction Effects

Conversations are brought to life via Reaction Effects. A simple thumbs up emoji will be used to respond to a message, and an animated trio of hands will dance around the message bubble. This feature adds a fun and expressive touch to talks by using the ten most popular emoji:.

Animated Emoji

Animated Emoji elevate expressions by including engaging visual effects throughout each message. Send a dazzling pink heart, for example, to convey delight when a pal announces vacation plans.

Profiles

Users can modify their profile name and photo associated with their phone number using Profiles. This helps you identify yourself across Google services, which is especially important in group conversations if you don't have that phone number saved in your contacts.

Among the celebration and revelation of the new features, Google also pointed out that the Messages app isn't the only client that supports RCS. Furthermore, Google stated its delight that Apple had now taken the first step toward supporting RCS within its Messages app, paving the way for a more unified messaging experience across platforms.

These new capabilities are now accessible to Messages beta users and will be available to all users soon. If you don't currently use Messages on your Android smartphone, you can get it from the Google Play Store and join up to be a beta tester to be among the first to experience these new features and the enhanced texting experience powered by RCS.