It may not have the global adoption rates ofWhatsAppor the mindshare of iMessage, butRCSis a big deal — particularly in the US, where a huge percentage of Android users are now chatting with the updated standard meant to replace MMS and SMS. Over the years, Google Messages has become the de facto home for RCS as the company continues to add features to both its app and itsJibeplatform to help push the ecosystem forward. Now, RCS chats are gaining a significant customization option for some.
What iPhone getting RCS means for Android
We’ll still be in green bubbles, but our pictures shouldn’t be blurry anymore
Custom RCS color themes are rolling out
A tipster pointed out to us that the custom background and chat bubble color optionsspotted in development last Novemberare rolling out to some beta testers today. We can confirm that we’re seeing the new setting on some devices after updating from version 20240228 toversion 20240308, but there appears to be a server-side component involved as well, since not all of our devices got the feature after updating.
If you’re one of the lucky few, you can check out the new color options by tapping the three-dot menu button inside any chat thread and selectingChange colorsfrom the overflow menu. Alternatively, you can go to the overflow menu, then selectDetailsorGroup details, and you’ll find theChange colorsoption just beneath the images and videos section. Here, you’ll be presented with a thumbnail view of nine different color options for that particular chat or group thread.
The default theme (top-left) usesMaterial You dynamic themingto pull its subtle accent colors from your device wallpaper, but the other eight options use more vibrant colors for sent-message bubbles and backgrounds. There is no app-wide option, at least not that we found in our testing, but this is understandable since the feature only works in RCS chats and not SMS message threads or MMS group chats.
Default theme (left) compared to a color theme (right) in dark and light modes
When you select a new color for any thread, you’ll see a message at the bottom of the screen that says “You changed the theme.” Next to this, aChangelink is provided to quickly jump to the settings page where you may switch back or select a different theme. Interestingly, this message didn’t show up on the recipient’s end in our testing, but it did show up on Google Messages for the web, even though the themes aren’t currently supported there.
Thanks: Hamzah and Moshe
