Google Updates Its Messages App with New Features

Google just gave its Messages app a redesign: the latest round of changes brings everything from privacy improvements to a more modern visual redesign and handy options for managing photos and conversations. It's not a single-function revolution, but rather a set of tweaks designed to make the app more secure, clearer, and—watch out—much more convenient for those who use RCS and Android on a daily basis.

What's new in terms of privacy and security

The main focus of this update is on protecting you against imposters and attacks like SIM swapping. Key Verifier is a tool designed to verify the identity of a contact using public keys: each user can generate or scan a QR code from the Contacts app to verify that the person writing to you really is who they say they are.

If someone steals or uses another person's number on a different device, the verification will be triggered and the app will notify you that the contact is no longer verified. This is a major step forward against phishing scams.

In parallel, Google is integrating support for MLS (Messaging Layer Security) into Universal Profile 3.0, opening the door to end-to-end encryption that works better across platforms (e.g., RCS conversations between Android and iOS).

Chat details now show the encryption protocol being used, making it easier to confirm whether a conversation is using the new MLS scheme or the older E2EE method. In other words: more private and more interoperable chats.

Image interface and experience: Gallery and viewer are game-changers

If you send a lot of photos or use the camera from Messages, you'll notice some changes. Google has separated the Gallery from the combined camera/gallery interface: you can now open a full-screen image grid from the "+" menu, instead of dealing with the hybrid view that combined camera and gallery. This makes bulk photo selection much easier and reduces unnecessary taps when you want to send multiple images quickly.

Also, the image viewer within threads has been redesigned: Photos sent together are grouped together, the background blurs when opening an image, and there's a preview of the previous/next image, plus a bottom row for quick reactions. For those who frequently share media, these improvements streamline and clean up the experience.

The rest of the visual package is aligned with Google's Material 3 Expressive: rounded containers, pill-shaped buttons, and a reorganization of the GIF, sticker, and emoji picker that avoids overlapping screens. There's also a modernized version for Wear OS that adapts these new features to watch faces. Everything is geared towards making the app feel more coherent with the rest of the Android ecosystem.

Other practical features and big little changes

In addition to the main new features, there are a ton of minor improvements and tweaks that, together, greatly improve the feel of use:

Taken together, these improvements show that Google is not limited to a cosmetic fix: it seeks to balance privacy, convenience, and expressiveness to make Messages a solid alternative to other messaging apps. Many features are arriving in phases—some in beta and others already in stable deployment—so you'll likely see them activated gradually depending on the make and model of your phone.

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