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Google Messages could soon start paying more attention to color and animations (APK teardown)
- Google could soon invert the color of the Send button when the text compose box has content in it, highlighting its clickability.
- Google is also working to add transition animations, especially when entering chats from the main conversation view.
- These changes are work-in-progress and not currently live, although we managed to activate them.
Many intelligent people have tried to understand Google’s messaging strategy and have given up. However, progress in the past few months shows that the company has been concentrating on building up Google Messages as the primary messaging app for consumers. Consumer-centric apps must be feature-rich and also look appealing while serving their functionality. Google’s latest changes to Google Messages are another step towards making the app look good.
The latest beta version of Google Messages, v20240808_04, includes some cosmetic changes that add a bit of flair to the messaging experience. These changes are not live, but we managed to activate them to showcase them to you.
In the newest beta, we activated a new color inversion behavior for the Send button. Whenever you input text in the message compose box, the send button will invert its color to a solid fill to highlight its clickability. This helps showcase to the user that they can now send a message.
Further, Google is also adding transition animations to the Google Messages app. Barely anyone will notice the lack of transition animations when opening individual conversations from the main conversations view. However, adding some animations will certainly build user delight when done tastefully.
You can check the lack of animations when opening any conversation on your Google Messages app. We managed to activate the new animations that Google is working on:
You will have to pay attention to notice the subtle but quick fade-in when entering a chat. In contrast, currently, Google Messages just drops you into chat screens without any visual fanfare.
Both these changes are not currently live. Google could change the functionality if and when the features come closer to launch, so do keep that in mind. We like these smaller visual touches, so we hope Google keeps them for the stable release.