Google Messagesis likely the chat app Google has taken most seriously out of all its failed attempts in the past. The RCS and SMS messenger keeps getting updates with important security features and quality-of-life enhancements. The latest improvement is the ability to double tap to send a thumbs-up reaction, which is currently rolling out in the beta version of Messages.
Rather than having to hold a message and then select an emoji to react with, some Messages users can double tap a text to react with the default reaction, which is usually a thumbs-up. When you double tap once more after adding a reaction, the emoji is removed from the message. The change is rolling out in the current beta versions of Google Messages and wasspotted by AssembleDebug on X. We can confirm the functionality in bothmessages.android_20240213_01_RC00.phone.openbeta_dynamicandRC01. It’s available without any tweaks to the app and doesn’t require changing any hidden flags. In our testing, these reactions work with both RCS and SMS.
The quick reaction option brings Google Messages up to par with some of its competitors and even helps it surpass others. While WhatsApp doesn’t support a feature like this, Telegram has offered the same shortcut for some time now.
The addition of double tap reactions isn’t a surprise. Googlewas spotted working on itearlier this month, though back then, the option wasn’t available just yet. The company only recently expanded its default selection of emoji reactions to include all available emojis, making reactions a much more versatile communication tool. Google also made SMS reactions work better across Android and iOS, with the Messages app correctly parsing reactions sent via SMS in iMessage.
Other features Google is currently working on for Messages include editing support, further generative AI integrations, and improved image handling.
you’re able to join the Google Messages beta via the Play Store listing on your phone. Once you’re in, you should be able to use message reactions. It’s likely that Google will also roll out the feature to the regular version of Messages sooner rather than later, too.
