Here’s An Early Look At Google Messages’ Custom RCS Group Chat Icon Support (APK Teardown)
Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google Messages could soon allow users to set up custom icons for RCS group chats.
- We’ve manually enabled the feature in the latest Messages beta release to give you an early look.
Google is getting close to enabling support for custom RCS group chat icons. We first spotted the in-development feature in a teardown of the Google Messages app late last year, and we’ve now manually enabled it in the latest beta update to bring you a pre-release demo.
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An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
Unlike other messaging apps, Google Messages currently auto-assigns icons for RCS group chats. The messenger creates an icon from group members’ initials or profile pictures, but that’s set to change soon. Google has been working on adding support for custom group chat icons, and we’ve enabled the feature in the latest Messages beta release (version 20250218_01_RC00.phone.openbeta_dynamic) to give you an early look.
As shown in the attached video, users will be able to change the icon for RCS group chats by tapping the pencil button next to the icon and selecting an image on the following page. The app will allow users to crop or rotate the image before setting it as the group chat icon. A notification within the group chat will alert members when the group’s icon is changed and show which member changed the icon.
In addition to allowing users to change the icon for existing group chats, Google Messages will let users set up a custom icon when creating a new group chat. The feature is not live in the current Google Messages beta release, but we believe it could soon roll out to users. We’ll update this post as soon as it’s widely available.
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