Google is making a change to the Google Messages home screen that replaces the search bar at the top of the screen with a magnifying glass icon to the left of the profile picture (on the top right of the display) which remains in about the same spot despite not being inside a search field. Google is adding branding to the app by placing its four-colored “G” logo on the upper left of the display followed by the word “Messages.”
Per 9to5Google, with the removal of the three-line hamburger icon menu now found on the Messages app, the navigation drawer goes away. Once the update takes place, you’ll find the options now found in the navigation menu under the account menu. Besides adding “Choose theme” to this menu, it will include options such as Archived, Spam & blocked, Mark all as read, Device pairing, Your data in Messages, Messages settings, and Help & feedback.
In another change, the carousel that now appears when you tap the search bar in the Messages app is replaced with a grid that gives you options to select Starred, Images, Videos, Places, Links, Unread, Known, and Unknown. The update is found on version 20230608_01_RC00 of the Google Messages app that was released yesterday to those subscribed to the Android 14 Beta Program.
To see which version of Messages is on your Android phone, go to Settings > Apps > See all xxx apps and scroll down to Messages. From the App info page, once again you’ll scroll down to the bottom of the screen and you will see the version of the app running on your phone. But just because you win app version Bingo, it doesn’t mean that you’ll have the new look version of Messages on your handset.
For example, my Pixel 6 Pro (running Android 14 Beta 3) has the correct version of Messages installed but has not yet been updated. This probably means that Google will push out these changes via a server-side update.
