Summary

  • Google Messages is working on an upgraded text field to show up to 12 lines, significantly improving from the current four-line limit.
  • This will allow users to draft lengthier texts without needing to scroll as frequently to check what they’ve written.
  • The feature was manually activated in a beta release, so it’s not yet available to all beta users of the messaging app.

Google Messages routinely adds new features and elements to enhance the texting experience. But as people who type long texts will tell you, the text field is somewhat limited. When you’re typing a new message, the text/compose field can only show up to four lines at a time. So if you’ve drafted a lengthy message that breaches the four-line limit, and want to double-check everything before hitting that send button, you will need to scroll up and down to go through everything. Google is now in the process of fixing this to some extent in the Messages app.

Closeup of a phone showing RCS chats settings on its screen.


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Looking through the latest beta version of Google Messages (20250402_00_RC00), the folks at Android Authority activated a larger compose field for lengthier texts. With this change, the text field can accommodate up to 12 lines, significantly improving from the previous limit of just four.

For comparison’s sake, Meta-owned messaging app WhatsApp shows up to six lines of text at a time, only two more than the current iteration of Google Messages.

A text field that makes sense

Current Google Messages text field with four lines vs upcoming version with 12 lines (via Android Authority)

Since this new and improved text field upgrade was manually activated in a beta release, it’s not yet widely available to try out. But we hope to see it appear in a future beta, provided Google doesn’t ditch the idea over the coming weeks.

This updated text field would likely go unnoticed by users who rely on shorter and concise texts to communicate with one another. Nevertheless, it’s a good idea for a messaging app to have this as an option for people who prefer a larger area to check what they’ve written.

While 12 lines is a sizable upgrade, you will still need to scroll if the draft exceeds that threshold. Perhaps Google can work on an expandable text editor to help users get the most out of their messaging experience. Requests for Google to upgrade the current text field limit have been made online over the past few years, both on Reddit and Google’s support forum. These users will be glad to learn that a remedy is in the works, even if there’s no ETA yet.