Fun or pointless? Google Messages chat topics divide readers in poll

Customization is part of the fun of Android, or at least it gives us a little more of a sense of individualism. We spend a lot of time customizing wallpapers, icons, and lock screens, so it makes sense that Google Messages gets in on the action too. New chat themes let you give individual conversations a personal touch, and we wanted to know if our readers would be excited to try them out.

My colleague Joe Maring recently tried out the new chat themes, showing how you can change the conversation colors, use one of Google’s preset wallpapers, or choose a custom image. Themes work with RCS chats and are only visible on your side of the conversation, so you can make your family group chat as delicious or terrifying as you like without anyone knowing. In his article, Joe conducted a survey to see if you would like to try this feature. The results, of course, weren’t as impressive as Google might have hoped for.

More than 2,500 of you voted in the poll, and we ended up with an almost even split between the three options. The largest group (36%) said they had been waiting a long time for chat topics, while 33% weren’t sure but planned to give it a try. Just over 31% said they would never use this feature.

While this doesn’t give us a clear consensus, it does mean that nearly 70% of readers are either enthusiastic about chat topics or willing to try them. This suggests that this feature is very attractive, but it’s hardly what Google Messages users have been waiting for. Again, when it comes to people who don’t believe they will use it, it could easily be because they don’t use Google Messages at all. They may have a different messaging app, or they may not text at all. While the US and other regions continue to enjoy classic text messages in their updated RCS form, we have many readers in other parts of the world. In many other countries, text messages are used for little more than delivery alerts or one-time passwords.

Several of you shared details in the comments of Joe’s article, and this thread reflected the mixed response to the survey. Kennyg357 said the themes “work and look great” on their Galaxy Z Fold 6 and welcomed the ability to finally have it on Android, while user Shear.it.up wanted more control, including the ability to apply a theme to every contact at once and freely choose bubble colors. Others were less interested in the cosmetic update, with Toddster1111 calling it “pointless window dressing.” It may be pretty meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but most of life is like that.

The launch of this feature was a bit bumpy and some of you took the opportunity to voice your complaints. Jandyfrix said they were unable to set up the theme after two days of trying, while several other readers reported that Messages froze whenever they entered or exited the theme selection window. These are known issues, and Google told us that availability may fluctuate as the company optimizes the rollout and investigates reports of lags and freezes. I guess if you’ve been waiting this long for chat themes, you won’t mind waiting a little longer until Google perfects them.