Google Messages is an app with which you can send not only SMS but also RCS messages on Android. The Mountain View company wanted to use it to build something like iMessage for Android, but – as the past has shown – it has its problems with messengers.
If you’re one of those Messages users who occasionally message iPhone users, you might have noticed that if your iMessage counterpart received a message from you with a thumbs-up, heart, or what, you’ll get a separate message also provided. The app hasn’t been able to interpret this yet, displaying the whole thing as a separate message.
Google is now testing the integration of the reaction function in the current beta. You interpret incoming messages and then display the reaction as an emoji if you wish.
When exactly the feature ends up in the final version is still open. The function could not yet be found on our test pixel, despite the Messages beta version. You can take a look for yourself, in the advanced settings of Messages on the Android smartphone you should be able to activate the whole thing.