Google Messages rolls out chat themes and interface updates

Google is rolling out several updates and experiencing technical issues with its Google Messages app. The company has officially introduced customizable chat themes, allowing users with RCS enabled to apply unique backgrounds and color schemes to individual conversations. These themes can be selected from preset designs or custom photos from a user's gallery.

In beta testing, Google is also redesigning the pinned chat interface to feature circular profile bubbles similar to Apple iMessage. However, this redesign includes a significant change: the maximum number of pinned conversations is being reduced from 20 to six.

Separately, some users have reported a technical bug where group chats unexpectedly split into multiple separate threads. In these instances, new messages do not appear in the original conversation history but instead trigger the creation of a new, duplicate thread with the same participants but no prior context.