Google has been steadily improving its Messages app over the years, especially since the advent of RCS. We’ve been seeing some fun features arriving in the app, such as Voice Moods and Selfie GIFs. However, until now, customizing your chat look has been limited to just changing the color of your chat bubbles, and even that was pretty limited.
Now, Google has introduced new chat themes, which can fully transform your conversations. It lets you pick from a selection of photos (or you can upload your own) as a background and even changes the color of chat bubbles to match.
It’s actually a pretty fantastic upgrade to the Google Messages experience that makes it feel much more fun, although I do think it went a step further. I’ll walk you through changing your chat theme in Google Messages and explain why I want a little more.
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How to change your chat theme in Google Messages
1. Open a message. Tap the three dots in the top right corner of your chat.
2. In the overflow menu, tap Chat theme.
3. Select from among the provided themes or tap Choose a photo to upload an image from your gallery.
4. Select a photo from within a theme or within your gallery. Tap Next.
5. Choose a color combination in the Colors row or stick with the automatic selection. You can preview your theme and colors in the image above.
6. Tap Apply to save your theme to the chat.
Enjoy your new chat theme!
Chat themes are fun, but…
Chat themes are something I’ve been wanting in Google Messages for some time. On the one hand, I like the relative simplicity of the app, but on the other hand, it can feel quite monotonous with the simple black or white background. Changing chat bubble colors were a nice way to break up some of that monotony, but they were limited to just nine color options and none of them were particularly good.
Chat themes is a great step forward, and in some ways, makes Google Messages feel as fun as Backgrounds on Apple Messages. However, there are a few things I think Google could have implemented to make this a much more full-featured experience.
It feels like a missed opportunity that Google didn’t implement Nano Banana in any way whatsoever. Gemini is already integrated into Google Messages, letting you chat with the AI or remix images shared in a chat. I would have loved to see an option to generate a background on-device with Nano, similar to how iPhones let you describe or edit preloaded backgrounds with Apple Intelligence.
I also think Google could take chat themes a step further by having them sync across devices. Right now, when using Chat themes, you’ll notice at the top of the page that “only you will see these changes.” That means once you apply a theme, it will show up for you but not for the recipient.
On the one hand, I get it, because your friend may pick a theme that you find annoying, inappropriate, or just don’t like. However, even Apple Messages syncs backgrounds for both users across iPhones, and some apps like Instagram and Facebook Messenger also sync chat backgrounds (though with a limited selection), which has led to some fun surprises and “fights” over which one to keep.
As one friend puts it, it would be fun swapping a background “and seeing how long it takes someone to notice.” Perhaps Google can add a toggle that lets the person changing it sync their background choice across devices, while letting the recipient either keep it or select their own without syncing it back.
Finally, I’ve noticed a weird bug that freezes the Google Messages app when I tap a theme but don’t apply it, then exit back to the chat. Fully exiting the Google Messages app will bring things back to normal. My colleague, Nick Sutrich, has also noticed this, though it doesn’t seem to occur for everyone; a friend hasn’t experienced this behavior.
I do notice, however, that when he swipes back, he’s met with a dialog asking if he wants to leave the page without saving the changes. That only appears for me when I opt to reset the background to default and try to exit without saving. It’s a relatively small bug that Google can hopefully fix soon.