Google Messages is finally giving Android users more personalization and customization options with “Chat Threads”.
Update 6/26: As of Tuesday, more Google Messages beta users (version 20260622_01_RC00) received a server-side update that enabled chat threads. Not yet widely available to testers.
Once available, you’ll see a red dot icon in the overflow menu as “Change Colors” is replaced by “Chat Topic”.
Colors are the theme of carousel message bubbles. The first option is Dynamic Color and responds to the background of the chat, while the remaining eight options are static.
Wallpapers change the background of the message chat. You can upload your own image or choose from the Google collection: Animals, Architecture, Black and White, Cityscapes, Landscapes, Macro, Space, Sunsets and Textures.
Original 6/23: You can currently “Change Colors” in a chat with nine options for message bubbles and backgrounds. It was introduced in 2024.
A new “Chat topic” option replaces this and provides more customization. Google notes that “only you will see these changes” in a departure from the previous approach.
It starts with a conversation preview at the top of the screen. Then you get a “Colors” carousel that matches the system-level Dynamic Color palettes.
Then Google Animals, Architecture, Black and White, Cityscapes, Landscape, Macro, etc. There are “Wallpapers” that present stock categories such as It’s also similar to the Google Wallpaper options, where you manually “Select Photo”.
This level of customization is a prerequisite for modern messaging apps, and Google is finally responding to this user request.
We’re not seeing Chat threads on the few devices we’ve checked today, with the usual phased Google Messages enabled. according to Reddit report today, you’ll see Change Colors become a Topic of Conversation once it’s available on your device.
Hopefully this will see a wide launch sooner rather than later.
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