Following the long-press menu, Google Messages is widely rolling out new ways to access timestamps and direct replies.

Previously, you could tap on a message bubble to see the sent time, read receipts, and RCS lock icon. Meanwhile, swiping left would let you send a direct reply.

A redesign today changes all that. To see timestamps, you can now swipe left anywhere in a conversation. This also shows the RCS encryption status. Being able to see all times instead of having to tap the bubbles individually is an improvement.

To reply to a message, you now have to swipe right on the bubble. Some amount of precision is required. You can still tap the message to see the read receipts.

As of today, the most widely rolled out design appears to be the old two-circle look instead of the single version that has been in testing for ages. In fact, in a real show of inconsistency, the new design widely appears on an individual message’s Details page and might also show up on the homepage.

Google changing the swipe behavior is likely the biggest disruption today. When you tap on a message, Messages will briefly have the timestamps peek out as a hint about the new behavior.

We’re seeing this widely rolled out with version 20260910_03_RC02 of Google Messages.

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