Google Messages Gets a Major Visual Overhaul with Fullscreen Camera and Gallery Integration

Google Messages Redesigns Gallery and Camera UI

• Redesigned User Interface: Tapping the Gallery icon in Google Messages will now open a fullscreen UI, featuring a camera viewfinder that dominates the screen. The gallery is always present as a sheet underneath the camera viewfinder, showing three recent images.
• Fullscreen Experience: You can slide up to reveal a full grid of images and access system photo folders by tapping “Folders.” This significant change replaces the previous compact and conversation-focused image picker with a more immersive but potentially cumbersome UI.
• New Preview Screen: After taking or selecting an image, users are taken to a preview screen that shows the gallery sheet at the bottom. Here, they can add captions and see who they are sending the media to.
• Media Quality Options: A new “Media quality” option allows users to choose between ‘Optimize for chat’ (faster, less data usage) and ‘Original quality’ (full resolution). The latter is marked with an 'HD+' icon.
• Beta Testing: This redesign is currently being tested in the Google Messages beta version (20241118_03_RC00), but it has not yet been widely rolled out to the stable channel.