Google Messages introduces 'Double tap to heart' feature

Google has rolled out a new feature for its Messages app on Android, allowing users to double tap on any message to send a red heart reaction. The feature saves time compared to the previous method of long-pressing a message and selecting an emoji response. Google chose the red heart emoji for this shortcut gesture instead of other popular emojis like thumbs-up.

The double-tap feature was under development since February and underwent server-side updates before reaching wide availability in beta and stable versions now. A one-time prompt informs users about the existence of this capability. The feature comes alongside another update involving RCS status indicators and read receipts, which removes the ability to tap on messages for timestamps and encryption locks.