Google Messages, the built-in messaging app on most devices running on the Android OS, is now testing a slight modification to the chat user interface. The update is concentrated with how the text field explains the conversations and now the readability of the label with “(RCS)” stands for Rich Communication Services and “(Text)” for SMS/MMS, taking away the extra “message” in between. This change only suggests making the interface simple and reducing the screen space, but due to some strange placement of parentheses which has not been there in the previous versions and there are some options still indicating that it is under testing.
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The redesign was first pointed out by a user on Reddit and then reported by Android Police. This update appears to be associated with a relatively small sample of servers’ testing since not many users reported about its implementation. Google had implemented another change in May that saw Google Messages shifting from a chaotic multi-line text field to a more refined single-line input form, enhancing user experience.
The new labels appearing as users converse are (RCS) and (Text) which swiftly indicates if the interacting chat is with Google’s encrypted RCS or simply the conventional SMS/MMS. Users will be able to easily know if their conversation is protected under RCS or not due to this new change, especially with the current trend of people using self-destructing messages.
However, the use of parentheses around the new labels has elicited some concern from its users. Although changing the name from ‘message’ gives the interface a cleaner look, many people agree that the parentheses do not look right and people may get lost. As pointed out by 9to5Google, this could be part of an experimental phase and future updates could remove these parentheses for a little more refinement.
Google Messages has had a busy year with updates, including newer features such as dual SIM RCS support and group chat search in future versions. Through these continuous modifications, the app is in the process of enhancing not only operational aspects but even its appearance in a bid to serve its many clients.
It is still to be determined whether this is the last version of the redesign to this text field or not, but users should expect more improvements to the app interface based on this test. Since Google aims at making messaging as natural as possible it suggests that additional changes will be made to enable users to interact with their messages in one way or another.
