Google Tweaks Messages On Samsung Galaxy S21 To Measure Up To Cutting-Edge One UI

Seeking to measure up to Samsung's heavily themed One UI software overlay, Google has tweaked its messaging app for the South Korean mobile major's latest offering in its famed Galaxy series.

Google's update to the Messages on Samsung Galaxy S21 comes with a tweak on the Messages home screen design, making it look more like a Samsung native.

Sources said that the Samsung Galaxy S21 Google Messages now comes in two portions. The upper part shows the name of the app and the number of unread messages. The lower part shows an interactive area where a user could search messages and open conversations, XDA Developers reported.

Along with the update came some less obvious tweaks. The accent color in dark mode is no longer gray but comes brighter with white color. By placing the conversation lists on a card, Google has incorporated the theme of One UI into its own, 9to5 Google reported.

Back in January, Samsung made Google Messages the Galaxy S21’s default app in places outside the US. This is in spite of the Korea-based tech giant having its own messaging app.

Primarily, Samsung’s partnership with Google is to make the RCS features the default for Android lovers. It is also part of Google’s effort to expand the Rich Communication Services and to position Messages as a default messaging app to a wider variety of users. The move, however, made the Samsung Galaxy S21’s messaging app look more like a Google native.

Now, Google seems to put a lot of effort to make its own default messaging application look more like Samsung’s One UI design. It is regarded to be one of Google’s biggest moves because the update compromises its traditional design to adapt to another Android OEM’s design.

Meanwhile, sources said that the new UI could be triggered on server-side updates. This is because several Samsung Galaxy S21 users worldwide saw the new Google Messages UI in various versions of the application.

It is still unknown if the UI will come with other Samsung updates on other devices such as the more affordable A52 and A72 or to the upcoming high-end devices such as the S21 FE, Z Fold 3 and Z Flip 3.

Android Central suggests that based on its current design, Google may also bring some of the features to the Android 12 beta test program.