Adamya Sharma / Android Authority
TL;DR
- An Android Authority teardown of the newest Google Messages beta has revealed a change to group chat icons in testing.
- We managed to activate the choice to take away a gaggle chat icon and restore the default four-avatar grid.
- Proper now, you possibly can solely change the group chat icon; you possibly can’t take away it.
One of many little quirks of a Google Messages group chat is that when you set an image because the group icon, you possibly can’t return. You’ll be able to swap it for an additional photograph, however there’s no option to take away it totally and return to the default look. That may be about to alter.
In one of many newest beta variations (v.messages.android_20250922_00_RC00.cellphone.openbeta_dynamic), we managed to activate an choice in testing that allows you to take away a gaggle icon utterly and begin from scratch.
The screenshots above present how the change works. When energetic, tapping the group icon from the group particulars web page opens it full-screen. A brand new choice within the three-dots menu seems, which reads “Take away group icon.” Hitting that and confirming brings again the default grid-style icon that reveals 4 participant avatars.
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Google Messages has seen a gradual stream of tweaks this yr, from sensitive-content warnings for nudity to the broader rollout of Delete for everybody. It hasn’t all been progress, although, with some areas reporting patchy RCS availability. We don’t know if this selection to revive the default group icon will roll out, or when, nevertheless it matches the sample of Google persevering with to shine the app.
⚠️ An APK teardown helps predict options which will arrive on a service sooner or later based mostly on work-in-progress code. Nonetheless, it’s potential that such predicted options might not make it to a public launch.
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