Saturday, November 9, 2024

Google Messages text field expands with ‘Magic Rewrite’ change [U]

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A small change to Google Messages for Android moves the “Rewrite” aspect of Magic Compose.

Update 10/8: This Magic Rewrite change and expanded text field is now rolling out to stable users of Google Messages.

Old vs. new


Original 9/17: There are two parts to Magic Compose. The first can generate a reply by using “20 previous messages for context.” That’s accessed by tapping the message bubble badged with a sparkle icon that appears in the text field next to the gallery.

The second aspect can rewrite a message you’ve drafted in one of several styles: Remix, Shakespeare, Chill, Lyrical, Excited, or Formal. That was originally accessed from the same place in the compose bar.

Google Messages is now moving that functionality into the ‘plus’ menu that houses Gallery, GIFs, Stickers, Files, Location, Contacts, Schedule Send, and Selfie GIF. It’s also now called “Magic Rewrite.”

As part of this change, the text field looks to get a little bit bigger, which is nice when you’re writing. It’s not a drastic difference, but people will take the additional space.

Magic Compose runs on-device if your phone supports Gemini Nano. It’s otherwise cloud-based and requires a Google One membership. 

We’re seeing this Magic Rewrite change on some devices with the latest Google Messages beta (version_20240916_01_RC00), but it’s not yet widely rolled out.

Original Magic Compose vs. Magic Rewrite (smallest font on different devices)

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