When it comes to messaging, iMessage has the entire Apple ecosystem behind it making it one of the leaders. Google has — after a couple of false starts — continued to work hard to build their Messaging base with Google Messages. Now, after far too long we’re seeing a glimpse of platform interoperability with reactions in Google Messages from iPhone users.
Any Android user has had those test messages that their friend, an iPhone user, has “liked” a previous message. 9to5Google has completed an APK teardown, with the feature now slowly rolling out to users, with reactions being handled almost as intended.
The code of interest in the APK teardown includes:
- ios_reaction_classification
- Show iPhone reactions as emoji
- ios_reactions_mapping
As you can see from the screenshots courtesy of 9to5Google, the iMessage reactions have been mapped to Google’s own emoji. So users will see a somewhat consistent message stream regardless of their chosen mobile platform.
Since the APK teardown was completed, the feature has apparently — not to any of our devices as yet — begun to roll out. We’re not sure from the available information when this will roll out beyond beta, but it’s a nice additional feature that will remove some of the mess from group chats that include iPhone users.
