Google has come a long way toward transforming theMessages appinto its own legitimate competitor for Apple’s iMessage. The company introduced emoji reactions to Messages in July 2020 after months of limited testing, although these emojis are currently not displayed beautifully on iOS devices. While Googlediscovered a workaround for this inconsistency last year, Apple’s refusal to support RCS chats on iMessage remains a headache for Android users. Another kicker is those emoji reactions on Google Messages have been limited to a set of seven options, but this appears to be changing as the app lifts that restriction.
As spotted by9to5Google, Google Messages is gradually rolling out the ability to pick any emoji when reacting to a message. This capability was firstspotted in beta testing last November, with the thumbs-down emoji being replaced with a shortcut to an emoji picker. Now, this functionality is finally going live on the stable channel. The same capability wasspotted by some Reddit usersa few days ago.
Previously, you could only fire off an emoji from a basic set of seven, including 👍 😍 😂 😮 😥 😠 and 👎. With this expansion, you’ll be able to see an extensive catalog of emoji reactions by long-pressing on an SMS text or RCS chat and tapping the new emoji icon with a “plus” symbol next to “thumbs-down.” There are 10 categories of emoji to choose from, and a search field at the top of the picker if you want to find a specific emoji. All the most recent emojis you’ve used are displayed below the search bar.
As usual, an emoji reaction shows up in the bottom-right corner of a message, assuming you and the recipient are using Google Messages. However, iMessage users will not see the actual emoji, but will instead see a basic “[emoji] to [message]” text.
While it’s a feature that many Android users have been waiting for, it does not solve the issues associated with texting with iPhone-toting friends. That said, at least you now have a full set of emoji reactions, which many of thebest messaging appshave had for quite some time.
