Google Messages needs a setting to turn off Reaction Effects

While I like Google’s particular brand of whimsy, the Messages app should really add an in-app setting to turn off its animations and other expressive effects. 

Google’s support article points you to a system/Android-level setting to “turn off animated reactions,” but that applies to everything on your phone:

1. On your device, open the Settings app.
2. Select Accessibility > Color and motion.
3. Turn on Remove animations.

That’s too extreme for most people with an in-Google Messages preference needed instead. The demand for a high-level setting strategy in earnest with the launch of Reaction Effects. For example, reacting to a message with 👍 results in “an animated trio of hands dances around the message bubble.” You get similar animations with ❤️ 😂 😮 😡 👎 💩 🎉 😠 😢. 

Replying to a message with a quick thumbs up reaction is really common in this day and age. It happens so often that the Reaction Effect for it gets tedious. The fact that the animation is a tiny bit too long doesn’t help.

The counter example of an effect that’s executed well and in moderation is Animated Emoji. The fact that the motion happens in a small area is its saving grace, while the wide number of options helps. 

If you think Reaction Effects are too much/long, Screen Effects take it to a whole other level. The fullscreen takeover feels intrusive. It’s fun the first few times it happens, but you can in fact go overboard with whimsy.

This is before realizing that Google has only widely launched two of the effects, with “15+” teased at launch.

• “I love you”: An outpouring of hearts and a bird flying across your screen for good measure
• “Sounds good”: Various thumb ups from the left and right edges of the screen

Maybe there’s a clever way to limit how often it happens per day per conversation, but until then a setting is needed. One idea that comes to mind is letting the sender decide if they want to append an effect when they send their message. It’s a bit like Voice Moods where you choose whether to attach a mood after you record the message.

(Speaking of that expressive feature, I’d like to once again point out that Google has not yet rolled out the voice recorder redesign to the beta channel. Yet, for some reason, that revamp sans Voice Moods is already available on the stable channel for several phones we checked.)