What you should know

• Google is testing a slick swipe function to breeze by way of footage and movies within the Messages app.
• Proper now, replying to every media kicks you again to the principle chat, which will get annoying quick. This replace fixes that with clean left-right swiping.
• You’ll additionally get a quick-access bar to react or remark with out breaking your circulation.

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Google seems to be cooking up a Messages replace in beta that makes it method simpler to answer to pictures and movies, and it might be excellent for these meme-packed, media-heavy chats.

Noticed by Android Authority within the newest Messages beta, Google is outwardly testing a swipe function that allows you to zip by way of all shared footage and movies in a chat. It’s a easy transfer that would severely degree up scrolling by way of media in busy group chats.

At current, you’ll be able to react or reply to pictures and movies in Google Messages, however each time you do this with one other media, it kicks you again to the principle chat. This feels a bit annoying whenever you’re attempting to undergo a bunch of media directly.

This new method of viewing media is about to handle this shortcoming. As a substitute of leaving one photograph and looking by way of the chat for the subsequent, you’ll simply swipe left or proper to flip by way of current or older footage. Plus, a useful bar on the backside allows you to drop feedback or reactions with out lacking a beat.

Android Authority managed to get this function up and operating and even shared a demo to indicate the way it works in actual life.

Whereas swiping by way of media is a little more useful, it received’t lower it for digging up older stuff. That’s why Google is including a devoted media overview you’ll find within the chat particulars. Faucet the brand new “Pictures” part, and also you’ll get a neat timeline of each photograph and video shared, sort of like what you see in a few of our favorite messaging apps, akin to WhatsApp.

These tweaks might sound small to most, however in the event you’re all the time swapping pics and movies, they’ll make a giant distinction. And Google has been on this grind for some time—earlier this yr, it was already testing threaded replies for media, so it’s clear Google needs to make Messages method higher for dealing with visuals.

It’s nonetheless within the works, nevertheless it might drop for everybody within the subsequent few months. Both method, it’s shaping as much as be a strong improve.