Google Messages Custom Bubble colours limited to RCS

 Google Messages Custom Bubble colours limited to RCS

Google is still rolling out the seven new Messages features announced at the start of December. We now have some more colour on Custom Bubbles, including how Google Messages appears to be limiting it to RCS. Some Google Messages RCS users are now noticing that they can change their custom bubble colours. This feature got public attention a few weeks ago and is now making its way to end users via an OTA app update accessible via the Google Play Store. However, this feature is not accessible on all messages on the Google Message platform as it’s limited to RCS users only.

The latest update to the Google Messages app brings over nine new chat bubble colours for RCS users to pick from. To access these new colours, users will need to use the three-dot button at the top right-hand corner of an RCS conversation. Tapping on this button will pull up a selection page, and the “Change Colour” option is the fifth on the list. Once rolled out on your device, “Change colours” will appear in the three-dot overflow menu found in the top-right corner of every conversation. This launches a UI which lets you browse the nine options, which include the Dynamic Colour “Default.” You also get a sample thread at the top to preview your choice before confirming.

Compared to the other expressive features (Photomoji, Animated Emoji, and Reaction Effects), the ability to customize bubble colour is not yet widely rolled out for those in the beta program. The users have noticed that the Custom Bubbles option is only for RCS. At the moment, SMS/MMS conversations are excluded from the theming. This RCS requirement might have something to do with how Google previously told us that bubble colours are synced between the sender and recipient in Messages. Once a user changes the colour of their chat with another RCS user, it syncs with the other users’ chat. So this means that changing the chat colour for yourself will also affect the interface of the person you’re chatting with. This might be the reason why this feature is exclusive to RCS chats, as users who have access to it can’t change the custom bubble colours for SMS/MMS messages.

Among the nine options users have to change their custom bubble colours, one is the Dynamic Colour option. This follows the users’ wallpaper choice and blends with the theme across the user’s device. The other eight options are solid colours which users can also pick from when changing the colour of their custom bubble for RCS chats. Among the seven features which Google announced were coming to RCS users a few weeks ago, this is the latest for more users to get access to. According to the available reports, this feature is still rolling out for stable updates. So if you use Google Messages, then you’re in line to get the ability to change your custom bubble colours for RCS chats. Meanwhile, Screen Effects’ “vibrant animations which will transform your words into dazzling visual displays” is also seeing limited availability, along with Profiles and the audio recorder redesign with Voice Moods.