After spending 2024 cycling through different looks before reverting to the original for some reason, Google Messages has widely rolled out a redesign of the text field.
This pill-shaped text field is now left-aligned and slightly taller with more padding above and below. The ‘plus’ icon remains at the very left (which was not the case in the attempted redesign), but everything else has moved.
The “RCS” or “Text message” status appears next with the smiley/expressive picker (Photomoji, Emoji, GIFs, and Stickers) and gallery rounding out the container. Voice memo now appears outside the field, with the circle turning into the send button once you’ve written something.
Compared to the last stable design, the field is less cramped and looks a bit more modern. One thing the old look had going for it was how it aligned with your sent messages appearing on the right side. Hopefully, Google will be sticking with this interface for the foreseeable future.
This text field redesign has been slowly rolling out in recent weeks, but looks to now be widely available today as of Google Messages version 20250311_04_RC01.
Old vs. new
More on Google Messages:
- RCS update adds end-to-end encryption, Google and Apple confirm support
- Google Messages ‘significantly’ improves ‘media receiving’ to fix slowdowns, failures
- Pixel rolling out Scam Detection to Phone app, Google Messages in March
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