Redesign of the Google Messages app

 Google Messages with expected new look 

Google Messages is getting a bit of a facelift, but one particular change might be divisive. In an APK teardown, it was found that an upcoming version of Google's stock messaging app will see a handful of UI tweaks, including a conspicuous lack of colour. If you hate colours, you'll love the new look.  Following are the some of the important points:-

Google is testing a DE saturated redesign for the Google Messages app, replacing bright colours with muted tones.

Changes may include rounded elements like corners in chats and pill-shaped labels in menus.

The update alters multiple interface elements, including conversation views, emoji menus, search bar positions and attachment shortcuts.

Themes may incorporate less saturated colours.

Google has been hard at work improving the overall Google Messages experience. After all, the app is the primary texting app for many, used by millions of people worldwide daily. Part of the improvement process involves experimenting with changes and seeing what resonates, and that’s what Google Messages appears to be doing for its latest round of UI changes which prominently opt for a DE saturated look. An APK teardown helps predict features which 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. According to reports available, code in the Google Messages v20250408 beta makes a number of changes to the way Google Messages looks. The most obvious change is that the new look is a little less colourful, with chat backgrounds rendered in more muted hues. The attachment menu where you can add photos, files, stickers and more to your messages is fully monochrome, in a pretty drastic shift from the multi-coloured interface used right now.

Google Messages v20250408 beta includes code that makes many changes to the app’s UI. Starting with the main conversation screen, Google Messages appears to be going for a more DE saturated look. The brighter colour in the old UI is out, giving way to a dull background in the new UI. The messages which are sent stand in contrast to the background, and there’s room to make the incoming messages stand out in the dull background as well. Eagle-eyed readers will also notice that we have softer curved corners right below the header. Several UI elements sport a more rounded appearance. Chats now have rounded corners at the top, and the tab labels and search bars within the emoji menu are all pill-shaped.

The shortcut menu for attachments takes the DE saturated look one step further with monochrome icons devoid of colour. It looks consistent but also boring. Moving forward to the emoji menu, Google is experimenting with swapping the order of the Photomoji menu, pushing it to the very end of the list. This makes sense since more people use emojis more frequently than Photomojis. Google has also swapped the position of the search bar and the tabs in the new UI. This should help users differentiate between the search field and the text compose field, as previously, they were right on top of each other. The persistent Create button for Photomojis is gone, too, now sitting within the Photomoji tab, which again makes sense. The tabs also have a new demarcated look, better following Material Design guidelines.

Some subtle changes are also coming to RCS Business messages. The Call-to-Action buttons are more prominent, drawing attention despite their DE saturated look. The bottom “Unsubscribe” snack bar is also more prominent. This look is expected in the near future. All the in-progress changes other than the less colourful themes seems good. This new, less colourful look isn't public-facing yet, but the code that enables it is present in Google Messages v20250408 beta. It's still possible that this updated look could change before it lands on our phones, or even be scrapped entirely and never released. These changes are very much a work in progress, and Google could just be experimenting with a new look. There’s nothing to say that these changes will or will not roll out to Messages’ stable branch in the future.