Google Messages gets its fun Screen Effects feature back

Google previewed the Screen Effects feature last year, and it finally made an appearance in the Google Messages app around Valentine’s Day. The feature received somewhat of a mixed response, with some users enjoying the effects and others finding them distracting or unnecessary. Whether it was due to technical issues or mixed feedback from users, the Mountain View tech giant pulled the feature soon after its launch.

However, it appears that Screen Effects is now back and supports more triggers (via 9to5Google). The effects occur on the Google Messages app for both SMS and RCS conversations when you receive or send messages that contain the trigger words or phrases. It’s available on the stable channel (version 20240621_00_RC00) as well as on beta channels. Unlike when it was rolled out last time, though, users now have the option to disable Screen Effects.

When Screen Effects launched earlier this year, phrases like “Love you” or “I love you” triggered heart animations. Surprisingly, they no longer do this, and neither does the phrase “Sounds good.” But there are other words and phrases that now trigger effects on the chat window like “Booo,” “Congratulations,” “Going to the beach,” “Hahahaha,” and “Rise and shine.”

Each of these words or phrases triggers a different animation. For instance, if you send “Going to the beach,” you’ll see waves and other objects like buckets appear on the screen. Similarly, the word “Boo” triggers tomatoes getting thrown around, and so on.

Let us know how many screen effects you were able to trigger below!