Google’s constantly looking to make tweaks to its native apps, some huge, and some minor, in an effort to improve said apps’ usability. This time around, these tweaks are making their way to the Google Messages app — well, at least in beta.
Spotted in the app’s recent messages.android_20251121_00_RC01.phone.openbeta_dynamic build, Google Messages might soon give users the option to open shared media immediately after saving it, alongside a minor tweak that would see the Gemini FAB taking up more space.
For reference, currently, when you save an image directly from a Google Messages chat, the interface highlights a “photo saved to your Messages stored media” prompt bubble. With what Google seems to be testing, the same prompt bubble could also offer an option to open the recently saved file.
Why would you want to immediately open a media file that you can already view in the Messages interface? To edit it in a dedicated app, to view detailed file information (metadata), or to potentially set the saved image as your phone’s wallpaper.
It’s worth noting that tapping the open button within the prompt will highlight all supported apps at first. Users will then have the option to select a default app to open media from within Messages, as seen in the video below:
Elsewhere, Google seems to be making two small UI changes. For starters, it wants to relabel a location-sharing icon to better describe what it does.
When you tap the ‘+’ icon within a chat, it highlights several icons, including one to share your one-time location. Google wants to make it clear to all that sharing a location this way only sends a static pindrop of your present coordinates. It does not share your ‘continuous’ live location. That’s precisely why the icon’s label is being changed from ‘Location’ to ‘One-time Location.’
The other minor UI tweak relates to the Gemini FAB. There’s not much going on there. It’s simply getting bigger, as seen in the image above!
These changes are what the Google Messages devs have been working on behind the scenes. It isn’t entirely clear if and when these changes might make their way to the Google Messages app.
