Google Messages introduces double-tap gesture to like messages

Google Messages is more than just your average SMS app. For Google and its Pixel range, that’s the default chat app and the company’s sole RCS client which now plays nicely even with iMessage. RCS inclusion brings several cool features like read receipts, but in most cases, reacting with an emoji is better than leaving people on Read. You can do that too in Messages, but the app now supports a double-tap-to-heart gesture for RCS texts, saving you even more time when being polite. That’s, of course, useful only if you didn’t have another specific emoji in mind.

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It’s probably time we moved on from the old SMS standard

You might be familiar with double-tap actions for messages on other popular social apps like Instagram where the gesture reacts to the message with a heart emoji. Now, 9to5Google reports the same functionality is coming to Google Messages too. However, this isn’t the first time we have seen it.

We first reported about this double-tap action in February this year, when testers spotted the feature in development, during an APK teardown. It was spotted again later the same month, when Google rolled out the heart emoji gesture to beta testers. We have heard little since, until now, because people on the stable and beta channels seem to have gained access to the gesture through a server-side switch. This means you won’t need to check for updates for the Messages app on the Play Store to use this.

Customization should follow through

Why only the heart emoji?

While the quick gesture makes conversation easier in RCS-enabled chats, it’s important to note that testers were able to send the thumbs up emoji using the gesture, but double tapping now sends just a heart emoji with a small animation. These animations also play when you open the chat and an emoji reaction is waiting unread, instantly drawing your attention to those messages.

You can still choose another emoji from a flyout menu if you tap and hold the received text. This behavior is comparable to other chat apps like WhatsApp and Slack, which feature a flyout and hover menu respectively. Hopefully, Google’s next step allows users to customize this quick emoji reaction, or at least choose from a handful of popular options.