Google is working on a new AI-based Insights feature for Messages, which will be able to summarize the links shared in a chat, offering you a quick glimpse without leaving the conversation. The specifics of how the tool will work and what controls users will get over it are outlined in app resources available in the Google Messages v20251103 beta, which has just gone live.
What Insights Will Do When Summarizing Shared Links
Touch the new Insights button next to a shared URL and Gemini will provide you with three bullet points (or fewer) of information about it. The aim is rapid comprehension; this is what would strike you if you were scanning a headline.
- What Insights Will Do When Summarizing Shared Links
- How Insights Appears and Works Inside Google Messages
- Transparency and user controls for Gemini Insights
- Dual SIM improvements and refreshed chat UI changes
- Why inline AI summaries matter for modern messaging
- What to expect next as Insights approaches public tests
Should Gemini require further context than the page provides, it can pull in web searches to enhance a summary. Crucially, Google will slap a notice on the search result when it is relying on external information, so you know when the AI is venturing beyond that first link.
Each summary will feature standard AI disclaimers, as well as a “dive deeper” to encourage the reader to follow up for more detail. That leaves the original output short, with an on-ramp for more in-depth exploration when you desire it.
How Insights Appears and Works Inside Google Messages
Insights is powered by a new setting, “Explore link topics with Gemini.” Once the toggle is enabled, alongside rich link previews in chats, the app also brings up an Insights chip, which makes digging into a link’s details feel like a native part of the flow of conversation.
In practice, that means when a friend pastes in a long investigative piece or a dense product page, you can tap once and see three crisp bullets that capture its essence. No app switching, no tab juggling.
Transparency and user controls for Gemini Insights
Google’s strings emphasize disclosure. Should Gemini draw on outside sources, Messages will catch it. Anticipate the same standard, tried-and-true Gemini disclaimer featured in any other user experience; a bit of caution always reminding users that AI results can be flawed and people should still verify big decisions.
Because this is a systemwide feature within Messages, it conforms to Google’s much larger AI stance: keep digests short, indicate when outside data is included, and allow users to opt in or out. As with all WIP code, behavior can vary from that in published releases.
Dual SIM improvements and refreshed chat UI changes
The beta also teases a quality-of-life change for dual-SIM users. The compose box will again display your active carrier name, cutting down on the chance of sending a message from the wrong line. Single-SIM users wouldn’t see the label, so it keeps the interface looking clean.
Google is also changing the chat details screen. Instead of a massive card with multiple settings stubs, all within one oversized card, each will now live in its own separate card. The update is meant to improve scannability and make the individual controls easier to find.
Why inline AI summaries matter for modern messaging
News, shopping, and support links are now all leading through messaging. Google has claimed that RCS in Messages is used by more than 1 billion people globally, and a substantial number of those threads feature URLs. Having AI summaries inline minimizes context switching and can aid comprehension for long or technical content.
The three-bullet format is noteworthy. You’re apt to trust shorter outputs more and take less time reading them, too, not unlike research from usability groups like the Nielsen Norman Group that shows skimmable content also helps with retention. The tightness of Insights might turn it into an addictive tap rather than yet another bloated AI panel.
What to expect next as Insights approaches public tests
Consider that since these features were all found in a beta build, timelines can and do move and features are subject to change before release. Still, the fact that there are explicit Gemini signifiers, a specific settings toggle, and UI hooks implies that Insights is now nearing public testing.
If Google does deliver what’s promised, Messages will soon have a helpful, highly visible AI layer that respects user control and keeps the overarching priority on speed. For those of us who live in group chats with links flying, that’s a practical upgrade that could save time every day.
