It’s been a busy last few months for Google Chat, starting with aredesigned logo in December, while the mobile apps have undergone afew design changesin the past couple of months. The Chat app is also developing features likevoice messages, which are already a staple ofmost messaging apps. We can now add another common messaging feature to the list, with Google announcing the inclusion of participant avatars for unread group chats (spaces).
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This feature is a long time coming, particularly for an app that positions itself as a viable competitor to some of the popular collaborative communication platforms like Slack, Microsoft Teams, etc. Apps like Slack provide a consistent view of the participants' avatars even after reading the thread. Google’sblog postdoesn’t make it clear if this will be the case with the new update for Chat.
Nevertheless, it’s a good feature addition to the app, letting you quickly pick and choose which threads to read and which ones to disregard, especially if you’re in a large team with hundreds or thousands of members. Google says these unread thread avatars will be available across the web as well as Android and iOS platforms, thus offering a consistent experience to Chat users regardless of the device they’re on.
There are no account-based restrictions or an admin toggle to enable these avatars, with Google saying it will finish rolling out over the next couple of weeks. Thankfully, availability isn’t restricted to a handful of Workspace tiers, with even free or personal Google account holders being able to view avatars for unread threads in spaces, according to Google.
While this is certainly one of the more useful additions to Google Chat, aJanuary redesign left a lot to be desired. The Mentions tab was relegated inside the pill-shaped container’s three-dot menu along with the Starred messages option. This visual change is also active within the Google Chat tab within the Gmail mobile and web apps.
