Google Messages' pinned chats could soon get a complete overhaul, here's an early look

Google has shown its messaging app a lot of love over the last few weeks. We’ve spotted the company working on several UI updates, and it’s also rolled out several new features. Last month, we spotted a new interface for pinned chats with large contact icons. Now, we’re seeing evidence that the company is further fine-tuning how pinned chats work in Google Messages.

Digging through the latest version of the Google Messages app, we found evidence of Google working on several changes to the pinned chats experience. While the features aren’t live, we managed to get them working on our device, giving you a first look at what pinned chats in Messages might look like in a future update.

New typing indicator

Google is working on a new typing indicator for pinned chats. Right now, if a pinned contact is typing, the Messages app simply shows “typing.” However, this could soon change to an animated contact picture.

Check out the video below to see it in action:

Previews in pinned chats

Google is also working to overhaul how pinned chats show received images, GIFs, audio files, and video clips. Right now, the Messages app only mentions “Image” or “Video” in the pinned chat. This will change to a preview of the image the contact sent. For videos, the app will start showing a frame from the clip along with a play button. Tapping it opens the conversation so you can play the video and respond.

Similarly, for audio files and GIFs, the app will show a waveform with a play button and an animated GIF preview, respectively. The app will also start displaying icons for PDFs and contact cards received in conversations. It could also display a generic attachment icon for unsupported file types.

Pin or unpin multiple contacts

Another change could let users pin or unpin multiple contacts at once. Right now, the pin/unpin icon disappears when you select multiple contacts. However, in a future update, you might be able to select multiple pinned chats and remove them at once, or select multiple unpinned chats and add them to the pinned section.

These features are still under development and aren’t available to users yet. However, they seem like the kind of improvements that could make the app easier (and more fun) to use. Hopefully, Google will roll them out soon.