Google Announces Chat Themes for Messages on Android

Overview

• Google officially introduced Chat Themes for the Google Messages app on Android on Thursday, August 27, 2026, and the company began a gradual rollout after months of beta testing.
• Chat Themes let users set a wallpaper for each chat from Google’s curated gallery or a personal photo and apply a matching bubble accent color that auto-adjusts to the background.
• After choosing a wallpaper users can fine-tune the color palette using a top carousel and return a chat to the factory look with a clearly labeled “Reset to default” option.
• The feature works only when Rich Communication Services (RCS) is enabled, so availability depends on a user’s carrier and Messages configuration and not all devices will see the option immediately.
• Google is staging the update through the Play Store and server flags, which explains intermittent beta appearances and why users should update Messages and look for a ‘Chat theme’ entry in a thread’s menu to enable it.