We all know how annoying group conversations can be when one of the bubbles is green, but it’s about to get better. Google’s solution to iPhone “tapbacks” is rolling out to Android phones beginning today and it’s very slick.
Tapbacks in iMessage are the reactions that appear when you long-press on a text. On the iPhone, you can choose one of six reactions and they appear above the message when texting between iPhone users. But when an Android user joins a group conversation, tapbacks become clunky text strings that clutter the conversation with “Mike laughed at” or “Karen loved” and then repeats the message.
That’s gotten a whole lot better now. We were able to test the feature on a Pixel 5 and the implementation is surprisingly solid. Instead of “Jason liked this message” when an iPhone user selects a tapback, Android users will see small emoji under the message rather than above it, but otherwise they function just like they would if they were using an iPhone. As a result, iPhone users won’t have their conversations cluttered with tapback texts and Android users won’t feel like second-class citizens. It’s a true win-win and the smartest messaging feature Google’s implemented in years.
