Google Messages rolling out reactions using any emoji

Back in November, Google Messages started testing the ability to react with any emoji, and it’s now getting wider availability.

We first enabled this capability in mid-September and the first users started seeing it in late November. Instead of being limited to seven reactions (thumbs up/down, Smiling Face with Heart-Eyes, Face with Tears of Joy, Face with Open Mouth, Crying Face, and Angry Face), you can select any emoji.

After long-pressing on an SMS text or RCS chat, tap the new ‘plus’ symbol at the end. This brings up the emoji picker built-in to Messages. There’s a search field at the top and 10 categories below. As you scroll, the sheet expands, with recents at the top.

Like before, the emoji reaction you pick will appear in the bottom-right corner of the text/chat if you and the other person use Google Messages. All other recipients (including those on iPhone) will see the reaction as the emoji and quoted text.

This feature has now more widely rolled out, including to those on the stable release of Messages. This follows Google letting you respond to SMS with emoji reactions in October.

More on Google Messages:

• Messages removed Assistant but might replace it with ‘Spotlights’
• Google Messages rolls out group chat end-to-end encryption (E2EE) in beta
• Google Account switcher getting more Material You and Dynamic Color tweaks
• You can now set Google Illustrations in Contacts for Android