We’ve seen a concerted effort from Google to improve its Google Messages app for a long time now. The features continue to be discovered early, leaked and now we’re starting to see the rollout. A couple that has recently been confirmed is pinch to zoom and pinned conversations.
Pinch to zoom is a simple concept and available on devices running Google Messages, pinning conversation isn’t widely available yet. We saw the first indications of this around a month ago through XDA developers, who now confirm the feature is rolling out.
XDA also note that if you don’t see the feature on version 8.3.026 you should clear your cache and force close. We tried this — on non-Pixel devices — to no avail, so it could well be a server-side change that’s yet to be completed. So keep your eyes peeled for an update to your app and don’t forget to tip us if you find new features like this suddenly working.
The thing I really wish they’d fix is the web browser app for messaging. Mine refuses to connect pretty much every time.
Pinch to Zoom works on my Galaxy S20FE-5G running Android 11. But no conversation pinning yet. Chat features activated but can’t see encryption either.
I’ve got pinch to zoom, however no conversation pinning as yet, nor end to end encryption.