RCS chats with background wallpaper

RCS chats with background wallpaper by Google Messages 

To help distinguish RCS chats in Messages from SMS/MMS conversations, Google is rolling out a background wallpaper. There are many ways Messages could take this, including syncing the background with the other person in the conversation. Google might add an option to disable it entirely. This way of differentiating RCS conversations joins the prompt in the compose field and the badge over user avatars in the conversation list. 

The Google Messages background for RCS consists of overlapping circles/bubbles, while Dynamic Colour looks to be leveraged. This design is looking nice when your phone is using a light theme, but seems difficult to see in dark mode. It makes the message bubbles and the compose field, as well as any photos, stand out a great deal. In the samples shared we have seen, the same pattern appears to be in use at this stage of the test/rollout. Hopefully, Google will offer a collection of different designs in the future, or even dynamically generate them for something more unique for all users.

This rollout is separate from the upcoming Custom Bubbles feature which lets you pick from nine colours. Compared to the other expressive features announced at the start of this month, Google does not appear to have rolled out this customization option yet. For comparison, WhatsApp has a “Wallpaper” feature which lets you set a photograph or solid colour (with optional “Doodles”/illustrations) for conversations.