Google Messages on Wear OS could soon add two features you’ve been waiting for

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

TL;DR Google is working on bringing emoji reactions to the Wear OS version of the Messages app.

A new “Mark as read” button is also expected for Wear OS notifications, mirroring the Android phone experience.

Google Messages is the primary texting app on Android, and Google keeps working to improve the core experience. This extends to both the experience on Android phones and the secondary experience on connected devices like Wear OS smartwatches. We’ve now spotted Google working on bringing the ability to react with emojis and mark messages as read from the notification, straight from your Wear OS smartwatch.

The Google Messages app on Android phones allows users to react with Emojis and Photomojis, but the functionality doesn’t extend to the Wear OS app. On Wear OS smartwatches, users can see all emoji reactions in messages, but they cannot react to messages themselves. This could soon change, as we’ve spotted a new MessageReactionsActivity on the Wear OS version of Google Messages:

Code Copy Text

There are also new strings related to message reactions:

Code Copy Text React with %1$s Remove %1$s reaction

So far, the clues don’t suggest that users will be able to react with Photomojis on their Wear OS smartwatch, but they should still be able to see them on their watch when someone reacts with Photomojis.

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