Google’s iMessage Reactions Are Here, but They’re Not Perfect

Android users have long hated when iPhone users utilize the Tapback feature in text messages, but Google’s fix is rolling out now to beta users. However, Google made some odd choices in the emoji translations.

We first learned that Google was fixing the annoying way Android and iPhone interacted with these reactions a while ago. Now the company is rolling it out to Google Messages users in beta form, as reported by 9To5Google. That means we’re one step away from the emoji reaction feature reaching all Google Messages users.

Oddly, Google didn’t use the symbols that match the exact reaction on iPhone. For example, the heart reaction is changed to the face with heart eyes, which sends a slightly different message than the heart by itself. Even more confusing is the exclamation reaction, which is switched to the Face with Open Mouth.

This maps the reactions to the same ones used in RCS, but it’s still an odd choice since changing the emoji alters the point an iPhone user may have been looking to make with their reaction.

If you’re in the Google Messages beta, the new conversion feature is enabled by default, so you don’t have to do anything to get it up and running.