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Google Messages is one of the most-used SMS/RCS messaging platforms on the market. The fact that it comes pre-installed on a ton of devices played a major role in this. Well, this app just crossed a very impressive milestone. Google Messages has surpassed a billion monthly users, and the company released some new features to commemorate that.
1. Photomoji
There are hundreds of emojis that you can use to react to a message, but what if you want some more options? Well, with Photomoji, the possibilities, are endless. What this feature does is let you choose a photo from your gallery to use as a reaction. When you choose the photo to add, the phone will use AI to crop the subject in the photo.
Then you’ll be able to use that cropped image as the reaction to the message. The capabilities might vary depending on your hardware. This feature uses on-device AI to perform this. In any case, you can use this feature to give you more ways to express yourself.
2. Voice Moods and improved audio quality
When you send a voice message, you’re obviously expressing your mood through your voice. However, what if you could give an additional visual pop to your messages? With Voice Moods, you can. When you record a voice message, you’ll be able to apply one of nine different themes you can add to the bubble it’ll sit in.
Along with this feature, Google also improved the audio quality of the messages. This is a nice quality of life improvement.
3. Screen effects
This will give your messages some serious flair. When you type different types of messages, you’ll see our screen light up with a full-screen animation. For instance, if you type “I love you”, you’ll see the screen come to life with a large heart animation. If you type “It’s snowing”, then you’ll see an animation to reflect that. Right now, there are 15 different effects that you can discover.
4. Custom bubbles
Now, you can customize the overall aesthetic of your chats to give them a different look and feel. You’re able to change the colors of the bubbles and the backgrounds. You’re able to do this for each chat as well. So, you can give your chats with your mother a different color from your chat with your partner.
5. Reaction effects
Sending a reaction already has a pleasing effect, but Google Messages is making them better for crossing a billion users. When you use one of the 10 designated emojis, you’ll see additional animations for the reactions.
6. Animated emojis
Emojis are great, but what if they could be more animated? When you send an emoji in a bubble by itself, you’ll see a neat animation along with it.
7. Profiles
Last, but not least, we have profiles. This is something we covered before. Basically, you can customize your appearance on Google Messages. You can set up a profile picture and profile name. This will make things better, especially if you’re receiving messages from numbers not saved in your contacts.
These features are all rolling out today!