Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google Messages is borrowing WhatsApp’s media forwarding shortcut.
- Users will soon be able to forward images and videos in Google Messages using a handy button.
- The new shortcut button streamlines the process by eliminating the extra steps currently required when forwarding media on Messages.
Google Messages has been hard at work to evolve from its old-school SMS vibe into a more modern instant messenger. To achieve this, Google has been steadily adopting features from popular apps like WhatsApp to make Messages feel more user-friendly. Now, the app is gearing up for another update that could make sharing images and videos faster and more seamless.
An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
In the latest beta version of Google Messages, we discovered that Google is testing a new shortcut designed to simplify media forwarding. If you’re familiar with WhatsApp, this shortcut will feel instantly recognizable. It’s essentially a copy of WhatsApp’s double-arrow forward button. Soon, this button should start appearing alongside images and videos in Google Messages, making it quicker to pass them along to your contacts.
We managed to activate this forwarding shortcut and got a preview of how it will work once Google officially rolls it out. Tapping the button brings up a list of your contacts, with recent chats conveniently placed at the top, followed by the rest of your contact list below.
Currently, forwarding a photo or video requires several taps. You have to long-press the media, tap the three-dot menu in the top-right corner, and then select forwarding. It’s a clunky process with unnecessary steps, but the new shortcut button streamlines everything by eliminating those extra steps. Once the feature goes live, forwarding media in Google Messages will be much faster and more intuitive.
