Texting from bed may yet cease that goddamn undesired flip to landscape in Google Messages. There is some code found in the latest beta that points to Google addressing a long-time oddity with the app’s built-in gallery, accidentally rotating photos when it isn’t supposed to do so because system auto-rotate has been off.
The change is limited to the in-app image and video picker you access from the conversation bar. Now, a gentle skew and you’ll lose the thumbnail tray, while the phone will forcibly suggest that you rotate with all bells on – a death sentence when orientation lock is turned on purposefully. The next tweak will have the gallery respect your device setting and keep everything upright in portrait, unless you’ve enabled rotation.
What’s changing in Messages’ gallery rotation behavior
Strings found in Google Messages v20251114 beta suggest new logic that is intended to work with the system rotation preference. When the OS-level orientation lock is enabled, it won’t force landscape in the gallery UI nor hide controls while rotating the phone. Even with auto-rotate on, the gallery can rotate to show a fresh landscape layout when it seems useful.
Noted Android code snoops (and prolific APK teardown contributors) at Android Police say that the feature is clearly behind a server-side flag. That is to say, even if you are on the right version n’everything, you might not see it until Google flips the switch for your account.
Why this rotation fix matters for Google Messages
Auto-rotate friction is one of those tiny paper cuts that accumulate. App-specific UI layers sometimes, however, bypass the system even though Android rotation controls have evolved a lot since the arrival of the rotation suggestion feature on Android 9. That’s exactly what Messages’ gallery does (kind of like a mini app inside an app), and it’s more noticeable in real life than you think: Texting from the couch or bed has truly never been so easy.
At scale, it’s the small namby-pamby wins that matter. Google has said that RCS in Messages is now offered to more than 1B monthly active users, and the gallery is one of the app’s most-tapped surfaces. Making sure it’s up to snuff for orientation respect saves accidental taps, prevents losing your place in threads and makes sharing photos feel predictable.
Design tweaks you may notice in the Messages gallery
Like the rotation fix, other betas contain UI polish: more regular and smoother rounded corners throughout the picker, transitioning better and a less half-assed landscape layout that doesn’t even show when auto-rotate is off. None of this is an overhaul to the workflow, but it does tighten the visual language to be more in line with Google’s overall modern Material look.
The cleaned-up landscape view more effectively uses the horizontal space, when rotation is allowed, so you have larger previews and clearer controls, which should aid when you’re sharing clips or more than one photo at a time.
How and when the Messages gallery rotation fix rolls out
Formerly, Messages updates are two-part endeavors: you need an update from the Play Store and a quiet server-side switch action. Look for a gentle rollout to be used at first on a subset of players. If you’re keen to check it out, the Messages beta program offers better odds but it’s not guaranteed—you still need Google to enable their flag on the server-side.
Until then, there are workarounds. If reinsertion reliance isn’t your thing, use your camera or Photos app’s own sharing method on the system share sheet (it bothers to respect device orientation). If the in-app gallery badgers you to rotate then and there, find proper replies elsewhere. An additional step, yes, but it eliminates that edge always-skirt-the-issue case of the gallery.
More widespread UX clean-up across Google Messages
This is not the only quality-of-life effort underway. New builds suggest a Trash that you can recover media from, and an all-around unified context menu which again should mean fewer shallow taps on the screen, and easier recovery when you’ve thought better of it. Individually none of these is a headline feature, but together they reduce friction across one of Android’s most-used apps.
If you’ve ever had your phone persist in landscape while you’re lying on your side, then this tiny but focused fix will feel long overdue.
When it does, preview a Messages feature that should, at long last, give users what they’ve wanted all along: Following the system’s cue and staying put.