People love customization, and if there’s one thing Android is really good at, that’s it. And Google’s Messenger is no exception. Every conversation has a specific color, but you can change the color of any conversation through its menu.

Related: How to Back Up Your Text Messages to Your Gmail Account

The first thing you need to do is jump into the conversation that you want to change the color of. It’s worth noting that there isn’t a blanket color setting—it’s specific to each person and conversation. Once you’re in the conversation, tap the three-button overflow menu in the top right corner, then select “People & options.”

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You’ll find a handful of options here, but down at the very bottom of the list, you’ll see the person’s name and contact information. To the right of that is a small palate. Guess what that does? Yep, change the color. Tap it.

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This will open a color palate with several different colors/shades to choose from. Unfortunately, there’s no way to select a truly custom color (with hex or otherwise), so you’ll have to pick from the pre-configured options. Good thing there are quite a few here.

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As soon as you select a color, the change will take place—even on the People & options menu. That’s what I call instant gratification.

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And that’s that! You can do this for every contact if you’d like, though unfortunately the color setting won’t stick across devices. Bummer.


Google Messenger is a fantastic alternative to most stock messaging apps included on non-Nexus phones. Like so many other Google products, it’s clean and minimal, offering only what it needs to offer and keeping most of the fluff at bay. It’s smooth and fast, and easily one of the best options out there. If you haven’t already, check it out—it’s free.