Google Messages possibly getting reactions and fallback texts

We have been hearing rumors about Google bringing message reactions to its RCS messaging since last month. Now, 9to5Google has found information in the code of the latest Google Messages beta version 5.8 that Google will bring “fallback” texts to its messaging along with the reactions.

In Apple’s iMessage, when you react with an emoji to a text you received from a non-iPhone user, they get a text describing your reaction. For example, if they sent you a text, and you reacted to it, they would receive “Liked” or “Laughed” and the content of their message, which is referred to as a “fallback” text.



Now it seems that Google is working towards bringing this possibility to its Google Messages app.

Apparently, the string found in the code of Messages’ Android application package, or APK, shows the addition of the feature:

< string name=”add_reaction_for_photo_rcs_fallback_text”>\u200b%1$s\u200b a photo 

The string is a template to be filled with your specific reaction only in the cases in which you are reacting to the text or photo of someone, who doesn’t have RCS enabled. Additionally, emoji reactions can be sent to photos, contacts, gifs and videos.

Unfortunately, we don’t have information when this feature will be rolled out to the general public and when it will be available for other RCS apps beyond Google Messages. It’s possible that we might need to wait weeks or months for this feature to start rolling out to all users.