Google is testing a new design for Messages status icons, which indicate read and text delivered to apps on Android. The company is currently testing this feature with users who have RCS chat support and it is starting to appear for a limited number of users. These prompts are a common mechanism in messaging apps to indicate the read/delivered status of a text.
These features are available in popular apps like WhatsApp and Telegram. Apple's iMessage indicators only use text. It does not include such checkmarks, which are common to WhatsApp users. Instead, iPhone users see words like "Delivered" and "Read".
According to a report by 9to5Google, these new indicators will currently be visible for select Google Messages users who have RCS chat support. The message status indicator in the app shows words like "delivered" and "read" between the send time and the lock icon for end-to-end encryption (E2EE). Google is now testing new checkmark icons to appear in sent messages where the words "delivered" and "read" appear.
Google Messages may soon start showing a checkmark inside a circle when a message is delivered. However, when the receiver has read the message the new indicator design will add another icon, which will partially overlap the first. With this new change, the company may try to reduce the visual width of the information that appears at the bottom of the message.
Google recently started rolling out new icons for some of its first-party apps, including its Messages app. Last week, the tech giant previewed several new features in its messaging app for Android.