Google Messages Is Rolling Out 3 Major Features—Here’s How to Get Them Now

Blue Bubbles Mean Your Texts Finally Caught Up

Google Messages’ new blue chat bubble, custom themes, and multi-message forwarding are three upgrades that turn the stock SMS app into a modern, RCS-powered messenger with richer media, personalization, and more efficient sharing for everyday Android users. The small blue chat bubble icon next to a contact now signals that your conversation is using Rich Communication Services (RCS) instead of the older SMS or MMS protocols, unlocking typing indicators, read receipts, long messages, and high-resolution photo and video sharing over Wi‑Fi or mobile data. In other words, the “Google Messages RCS blue bubble” is code for: your texts have finally grown up. Encrypted RCS between Android phones has existed since 2021, but the lock icon that signals end-to-end encryption does not appear in every chat yet, especially in cross-platform conversations, so you should not confuse the blue bubble with guaranteed private messaging.

This shift matters because most people still treat SMS as their default, even though it sends messages as plain text through carrier infrastructure with no protection at all. The moment your thread flips to RCS, you gain TLS protection in transit, contemporary chat features, and a far smoother experience—without installing a separate app. All three major US carriers now support RCS as of 2026, but if you are on a smaller or prepaid plan, you may need to verify support with your provider before you rely on those blue bubbles.

1. Open Google Messages.
2. Tap your profile icon in the top-right corner.
3. Go to “Messages Settings” > “RCS chats”.
4. Toggle “Turn on RCS chats” to ON if it is not already.
5. Confirm that your text field says “RCS message” and the header shows “RCS chat with [name]” when chatting with supported contacts.

Custom Chat Themes: Google Messages Finally Stops Looking Boring

For years, people coming from other messaging apps have complained that Google Messages looks bland, especially compared to lively, image-based themes. Now, “Google Messages custom themes” are rolling out in the beta, and they are the first real answer to that criticism. Instead of a single accent color, you can assign a custom theme with an image background for each individual chat thread, choosing from preset artwork or your own photo. That level of per-conversation personalization was highly requested by users who had used Samsung Messages before and were forced to move their chat experience over. It makes practical sense too: when your family thread has a different wallpaper from your work group, you spot the right conversation quicker and avoid sending the wrong message.

1. Enroll in the Google Messages beta program via Google Play.
2. Update Google Messages to the latest beta build in Google Play.
3. Open Google Messages, then open any conversation.
4. Tap the three-dot menu in the top-right corner and look for “Chat theme”.
5. If you do not see it, close the app completely, use the app switcher to swipe it away, then reopen it.
6. Once “Chat theme” appears, tap it and choose a color, a pre-selected image, or “Choose a photo” to pick your own background.
7. Tap “Apply” to set the theme for that specific chat thread.

The limitation today is obvious: you need the beta. That is a trade-off—beta software can be less stable—but if you care about making your inbox feel more like a modern chat app than a throwback SMS list, enrolling is worth considering. When these “Google Messages new features” hit the stable channel, themes will likely become the default way power users organize their conversations.

Multi-Message Forwarding: The Fix for a Glaring Pain Point

The lack of bulk forwarding has been one of Google Messages’ most embarrassing gaps. As it stands today, Google Messages does not allow users to forward multiple messages or images. If you want to share a long back-and-forth or a photo set, you have to forward each text and image one by one, which feels archaic compared with rival apps. Users have been asking for a “Google Messages forward messages” solution for years, and the company is finally testing a feature that handles what should have been table stakes from day one.

In the latest beta, once the feature is enabled, you can select several texts and images in a conversation, then use a new overflow menu represented by a three-dot icon in the top-right corner of the conversation header. Tapping this icon reveals a “Forward” option; choosing it opens the contact picker and shows a preview of the selected messages at the bottom of the screen before you send them. This is exactly how forwarding should work: batch selection, clear preview, one send action. Still, it is reassuring to see Google finally bringing this basic functionality to Messages, even if it arrives much later than it should have.

1. Enroll in the Google Messages beta and update to the latest beta build.
2. Open a conversation and long-press one message to start selection.
3. Tap additional messages and images you want to include.
4. Look for the three-dot overflow menu in the top-right corner of the conversation header.
5. Tap “Forward”, then pick one or more recipients in the contact picker.
6. Review the preview of selected content at the bottom of the screen and send.

Who These Features Are For—and Where They Still Fall Short

Taken together, RCS blue bubbles, custom themes, and multi-message forwarding mark a pivot: Google Messages is no longer “just the SMS app”, it is a serious everyday messenger. RCS is the modern replacement for traditional texting, offering high-resolution media, read receipts, typing indicators, and longer messages without the 160-character SMS cap. But it is important to be honest about the gaps. The presence of the blue bubble or dot means RCS is active, yet it does not automatically mean your messages are end-to-end encrypted. If you want secure conversations as a priority, a dedicated app such as Signal or WhatsApp remains the better option, since encrypted RCS messages require everyone in the conversation to have a compatible carrier, up-to-date Google Messages, and the right iOS version on iPhone (iOS 26.5) for cross-platform chats. A single unsupported participant can drop the entire conversation back to unencrypted RCS or even SMS.

In practice, these features matter most for people who want a fast, default messenger that feels modern without juggling multiple apps. If you are that person, spend five minutes turning on RCS, joining the beta, and experimenting with themes and forwarding. If you are privacy-obsessed, treat RCS as an upgrade over SMS but still keep a dedicated secure app for sensitive chats. The smart move is to combine them: let Google Messages handle your everyday texts with its “Google Messages new features”, while you reserve encrypted messengers for conversations that need stronger protection.