Kate Mills 
Jan 31, 2024
Google messages commencing to roll out a redesign of the text field, locating the shortcuts bar in a designated place.
While it's currently observing a wider release, the redesign of the text field, earlier, was only visible for those user who did not have any enrollment in the Google Messages beta.
On the contrary, the December update of the text field redesign was available only to those enrolled in the beta programme of the app. Although the redesigned voice recorder — with Voice Moods — button's placement is solitary, it has not been released for a bigger portion of its user base.
Read more: Google Messages enables multi-SIM RCS texting
However, with the latest take on the redesign, the app has shifted the text field on the left panel with an emoji button up first, followed by the Magic Compose, then gallery (which has a new icon), and then plus, which is now resting at the adjacent end, as noted by 9to5Google.
What sets this time's update apart is that the voice recorder — accompanied by Moods — has been given a separate button outside the pill.
The arrangement of the aforementioned features and their buttons might seem uneven to some because the text field is aligned to the left, whereas the messages sent continue to appear at the right.
Meanwhile, a new UI-enriching thing has been included in the update which divides into two lines when the user starts typing. With the text field is at the top, a bar shows all the shortcuts on the same strip, adding to the complexity of the user interface which could take users a while to get accustomed to.
Some beta users of Google Messages have already noticed the redesigned text field with the dedicated bar, but it has not been widely released yet, just like the other features announced by Google earlier this week.
