Google is testing out a new way of interacting with Messages that brings important controls within reach of your thumb. The early evidence in a couple of recent beta builds is that there’s going to be a new contextual menu popping up right next to the message you pressed — which should mean fewer trips up to that pesky, hard-to-reach top bar and multi-select being made much more obvious.
What’s Changing in Google Messages’ Context Menu
Now anything Google Messages wants to do is tucked in the top app bar or behind a hamburger menu. Once you long-press on one, the options to copy and delete hover up towards the top while many other available actions get smushed into overflow. The redesign gets rid of that and uses an on-screen context menu attached to the message bubble you tapped.
From the aforementioned screenshots, it appears that the menu includes options such as Reply, Forward, Copy, Star, and Delete, and I’m sure those are not all — that said, I believe that adding bottom menus is a welcome step, with them appearing below the current message while still floating emoji reactions above in suspended animation.
The positioning keeps the tool options in what you might think of as the “thumb zone” so that you can act without having to adjust your grip or use your other hand.
Also, the menu seems to be content-aware. Choose an image and you get a Save option. If you’ve just sent a text, an Edit control might briefly appear, mirroring a broader trend in chat apps to allow for rapid corrections. This dynamic action is table-stakes in most modern messaging, so it’s nice to see the boffins in Google’s stock message client finally deliver.
Designed for Thumb Reach on Large Phone Displays
Screens keep growing and that’s a wonderful thing for media but unfriendly for reachability. And UX research from designer Luke Wroblewski has long told us that a significant proportion of people use their phones one-handed, around half of his sample when he observed mobile phone usage. On the 6-inch-plus displays of today, top-of-screen controls essentially occupy a “hard” zone for many users.
Google has been moving toward doing this across key surfaces on Android, from bottom sheets to gesture navigation and taskbars on big screens. Relocating individual granular message actions to a contextual menu within reach of your tap similarly serves the same logic: reduce trips, make decisions close by, and quicken up common interactions like reply, copy, and star.
Improved Multi-Select and Fewer Message Misses
The update also addresses the pain point of selection clarity. The current system is too subtle in its (very Material You) shading to easily distinguish which bubbles have been selected in a long thread. The new UI presents explicit checkmarks next to each message that you select, with empty circles for messages that are not selected, allowing you to tap to add or remove. It’s a small change with a noticeable effect when you’re triaging a busy group chat.
It’s similar to the best practice used in productivity apps — visible affordances lead to fewer mistakes. If you’ve ever accidentally deleted the wrong message because it was difficult to see after being highlighted, you’ll appreciate the more intense visual signaling.
How It Compares to Other Google Apps and Patterns
Google’s suite of apps isn’t always reliable when it comes to accessibility. Gmail largely still depends on a top action bar for actions such as archive and delete, while Google Photos uses bottom sheets and on-canvas controls. Messages taking on an anchored context menu brings it one step closer to Photos’ mantra and the bottom-aligned actions we see in Material Design guidance now.
It’s also a reminder of the nature of Messages’ scale. Google has claimed more than a billion active users on RCS, and any amount of friction gets hugely multiplied at that scale. Even a tiny reduction in thumb travel can shave seconds off common tasks, and that time adds up when it’s multiplied across billions of messages sent every day.
What to Expect in Testing and the Gradual Rollout
Hidden dividends appear to be controlled by server-side flags, as has been the trend with other Google app tests. That means not everyone on the beta channel will necessarily see it right away, and the company can iterate quickly around layout, labels, and animation before giving it a larger release.
Like most Google app upgrades, this one could arrive for you piecemeal and regionally staggered. Keep an eye out for a new, on-canvas menu that appears if you long-press in chat; should it make its way to you, the actions will appear directly under the message you’ve selected but with checkmarks when tapping multiple bubbles.
Why This Matters for One-Handed Use in Messages
Messaging is a high-frequency behavior, and small changes in design have outsized implications for the sense of comfort and speed. By lessening the reliance on the top bar and simplifying selection, Google’s addressing two of Messages’ longstanding ergonomic problems without fundamentally altering the app flow.
If the test does stick, it could be a template for other communication apps on Android: move actions to where interaction is, make multi-select explicit, and thumb-friendly layouts preferred. It’s a small tweak — but it could be the most meaningful Messages update in years for one-handed users.
