Google is giving its Messages app a significant refresh, rolling out new features that bring shared notes, custom chat themes and interface improvements to Android users as the company continues building out its RCS messaging experience.
The latest changes form part of Google’s September 2026 Android Drop, with some features already available and others gradually reaching users through staged rollouts and testing.
The update further positions Google Messages as more than a traditional SMS application, with Google increasingly adding features associated with modern messaging platforms while strengthening integration between its own services.
Google Keep comes directly to Messages
One of the biggest additions is integration with Google Keep, allowing people to create and collaborate on notes and lists without leaving a Google Messages conversation.
Users can tap the “+” button inside Messages and select Keep Notes. From there, they can create a new note or share an existing one with people in the conversation.
Once shared, participants can view, edit and contribute to the note.
Google says the feature could be useful for things such as shared grocery lists, holiday planning or organising activities with friends and family.
The integration effectively turns a group conversation into a collaborative workspace, reducing the need to repeatedly scroll through messages looking for plans, addresses or lists.
The feature began rolling out as part of the September Android Drop and was still reaching Google Messages users in early September.
Conversations get custom backgrounds and themes
Google Messages is also becoming considerably more customisable.
The new Chat theme feature allows users to give individual conversations their own appearance by selecting different backgrounds and colours.
Users can choose a wallpaper provided by Google or upload one of their own photographs. Message bubble colours can then automatically adapt to complement the selected background.
Google offers wallpaper collections including landscapes, architecture, animals, cityscapes, space, sunsets and textures.
Unlike some messaging platforms where a theme changes the appearance of a conversation for everyone involved, Google Messages themes are personal. The customisation appears on the user’s own device rather than changing how the conversation looks for other participants.
Google is experimenting with a new long-press menu
Beyond the officially launched features, Google is testing additional changes that could alter how users interact with individual messages.
One experiment replaces the traditional toolbar that appears after holding down a message with a floating contextual menu, while the rest of the conversation is visually blurred in the background.
The interface could also make copying messages more precise by allowing users to select only part of a message instead of copying the entire piece of text.
The feature remains in testing, meaning its appearance and functionality could change before a wider release.
Read receipts are also being redesigned
Google is continuing to experiment with the way sent, delivered and read indicators appear inside Messages.
Several versions of the interface have been tested, including moving read-receipt icons around message bubbles and changing how users access timestamps and encryption information.
One current experiment places additional information behind a swipe gesture, while replying to a message can be accessed by swiping in the opposite direction.
The changes are designed to simplify the conversation interface while keeping information such as delivery status and encryption accessible.
Android and iPhone RCS conversations continue improving
Google Messages’ evolution is also increasingly tied to improvements in communication between Android devices and iPhones.
With Apple having adopted RCS, messaging between the two platforms has gradually gained capabilities previously unavailable through traditional SMS and MMS.
Further improvements are being tested alongside iOS 27, including inline quoted replies and improved emoji reactions to photographs in Android-iPhone RCS conversations.
That could make cross-platform group chats behave more like conversations taking place entirely within a single messaging ecosystem.
Google Messages becoming central to Android
The wave of updates arrives as Google Messages continues becoming the dominant default messaging experience across much of the Android ecosystem.
Samsung has also been moving users away from its own Samsung Messages application towards Google Messages in some markets, further consolidating Google’s app as a central RCS platform on Android devices.
Over time, Google has added features including group-chat mentions, message editing, location sharing, spam protection, scam detection, higher-quality image sharing and expanded RCS functionality.
The latest additions suggest Google now wants Messages to compete not simply as an SMS replacement, but as a fuller communication platform.
