Google Messages reactions may soon support all your favorite emojis

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(Pocket-lint) – Google Messages appears to be testing a change that will allow users to react to messages using all the emoji they want, rather than just a handful.

The Google Messages app already supports things like RCS, and of course you can react to a message using emojis. But for now, you only have seven to choose from, including thumbs up or thumbs down, smiley face with heart-shaped eyes, face with tears of joy, face with open mouth, crying face and everyone’s favorite, angry face. But that could be about to change.

It has been reported that Google is currently testing a new button that will allow users to select their favorite emoji from a new picker. The little “+” icon will give way to all the awesome multicolored emojis you might want to use. Perfect for reacting to any message the way you want.

The new emojis are thought to be available to at least some users of the latest Google Messages beta, but it might be a while before they’re available to everyone, so hold on tight if you are still limited to a handful of emoji options.

Being able to react to a message using an emoji of your choice is a bigger issue than it seems, with people often preferring to use an emoji as a quick reply rather than typing out an entire message. It’s not always easy to do this when only seven emojis are available, at the risk of losing the nuance of the reaction you wanted to convey.

Written by Oliver Haslam.