There is a slow rollout of Screen Effects that temporarily take over the Google Messages app, but only a limited number of triggers have been released so far. These effects show full-screen animations for a few seconds when you send or receive certain phrases.
Google is starting to add fun animations that play when you send special messages in Google Messages. So far you can see animations for the phrases “I love you” and “Happy Valentine’s Day”. When you send one of these messages, hearts or a dove will appear on your screen. There is also an animation for the phrase “Sounds good” that shows thumbs up from the sides of your screen.
Google said more phrases may trigger animations in the future. They mentioned “it’s snowing” could work too but that effect is not available yet. Over 15 message triggers should be added total. The animations work for both RCS chats and SMS. You cannot turn them off yet but Google may add settings for this soon.
The animations have been rolling out slowly over the last few weeks. More people should see them around Valentine’s Day. Other new features like changing your message reaction and recording audio with effects are also being tested. But these are only available for some users so far.
Google continues updating Messages with fun features. Be on the lookout for more message effects and animations to come to your chats!
