Androids iOS-friendly emoji reactions officially launch in major Google Messages update

We’ve known for months that Google has been working to make its Messaging app properly display emoji reactions sent by iPhone users. Now Google is making the feature available to all as part of a host of new and updated features for its Messages app that are rolling out over the coming weeks.

The beta already gave us a pretty good idea of how Google Messages translates emoji reactions sent by iOS users, properly formatting them on Android instead of appearing as a confusing text message that arrived separately.

Despite Google’s capitulation, it still says it wants “Apple to join the rest of the mobile industry and adopt RCS” for a better long-term solution.

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