Google officially announced custom chat themes for Messages on August 27, closing out months of beta testing with a feature that lets you assign a distinct color palette and wallpaper to any individual conversation. If you've been wondering how to use chat themes in Google Messages since spotting the option on a friend's phone, the mechanics are simple. One detail about how the feature actually works, though, is worth understanding before you touch a single setting.
The feature replaces the narrower "Change colors" option that had offered nine bubble-and-background combinations since 2024, and it only works in conversations where RCS is switched on. More importantly, Google describes chat themes as "private to you," visible only on the device that set them and invisible to whoever is on the other end of the thread.
That single fact should shape how you think about the feature before you spend ten minutes picking the perfect vacation photo. This guide covers checking whether the update has reached your phone, applying a theme step by step, and understanding why the same rollout's other new feature, shared Keep notes, works the opposite way.
Check whether chat themes have reached your phone (and your chat)
Start by updating Google Messages itself. Open the Play Store, tap your profile icon, go to Manage apps & device, and install any pending Messages update, according to Android Authority.
Next, confirm RCS is switched on. Open Messages settings, tap RCS chats, and make sure Turn on RCS chats is enabled. Chat themes only work with RCS conversations; a thread still running on plain SMS or MMS won't show the option.
Once the option is live on your device, the change is easy to spot. The old Change colors entry gets replaced by Chat theme, sometimes flagged with a small red dot to mark it as new, according to 9to5Google.
Timing is where patience may still come in. Google included Chat theme in its September Android Drop on September 1 and says the feature is available now, while Android Central describes it as rolling out. That means availability should be much broader than it was immediately after the August 27 announcement, though rollout timing can still vary between devices.
Updating the app and enabling RCS are the first things to check if the option isn't there.
How to use chat themes in Google Messages
Once the option has reached your phone, here's the full path to customize Google Messages conversations one thread at a time.
Open Google Messages and tap into the RCS conversation you want to customize.
Tap the recipient or group name at the top, or tap the three-dot menu in the top-right corner, then tap Chat theme.
Start with Colors. The default option, Dynamic Color, automatically matches either your phone's system accent color or whatever wallpaper you've picked. Eight additional static styles sit alongside it if you'd rather lock in a specific shade. Whichever you choose changes more than the message bubbles; it also touches the conversation background and other interface elements, including the voice-recorder button.
Scroll to Wallpapers. Browse Google Messages custom wallpapers organized into curated categories such as Animals, Architecture, Landscapes, and Space, or tap Choose a photo to change the chat background using an image from your phone.
Fine-tune if needed. After you pick a wallpaper, bubbles adjust automatically to complement it, but you can still manually tweak the palette using the carousel at the top of the screen.
Tap Next to preview the theme, then tap Apply to save the changes. You can use Reset to default in the same menu to undo everything and return the chat to its original appearance.
During earlier beta testing, Android Authority also found animated GIFs working as wallpaper options alongside static images, though the current launch instructions don't specifically call out GIF support, so it's worth treating that as a beta-tested capability rather than a guaranteed part of the finished rollout.
One readability issue is worth watching for. During that same early testing, Android Authority flagged that text near the top of the screen could get lost against darker wallpaper images. If that happens after you apply a photo, don't fight a busy background with contrast tweaks. Pick a lighter or simpler image instead.
The limitation that should change how you use this
Chat themes are private by design. Google says they're "only visible to you on your device," and Android Authority independently confirmed that neither a one-on-one contact nor anyone else in a group thread can see the color or wallpaper you've chosen.
That single fact changes what the feature is actually for. A chat theme adjusts your local view of a conversation, not the conversation itself.
Google's own suggested use cases, like a latte theme for a coffee friend or a beach photo for a vacation group chat, sound communal, but Android Central is blunt about the reality: that beach photo set for the group thread isn't going to show up on anyone else's phone.
Set a theme to make a conversation nicer to look at on your own device, not to signal anything to the person you're texting.
How to add a shared Keep note in Google Messages
Alongside chat themes, Google's September Android Drop brought shared Google Keep notes to Messages. Tap the plus button in a conversation, and you can bring Keep into the thread so participants can view, edit, and add to the same note without switching apps.
Google positions this one for actual group logistics: a shared grocery list, a vacation itinerary, or anything a group needs to build together. Unlike a chat theme, a Keep note dropped into a conversation is something participants can work on together, not something that renders only on your screen.
Current reporting reviewed for this guide doesn't clearly spell out every eligibility requirement for shared notes, including whether every participant needs RCS or a Google account. Treat those details as open rather than assuming the RCS checklist from earlier in this guide carries over automatically.
The contrast between the two features matters more than either one on its own. In a single rollout, Google shipped a personalization tool that stays local to one device and a collaboration tool built for a group to use together.
Knowing which one to reach for, and what everyone else in the conversation will actually see, is the practical difference.
Where this leaves you
The fastest way to find out if chat themes have reached your phone is to open an RCS conversation and look for Chat theme in place of the old Change colors option.
If it's not there yet, update Messages and confirm RCS chats are turned on. Google now lists Chat theme as available in Messages, though rollout timing may still vary across devices.
Once both features show up, the choice is simple. Reach for a chat theme when a conversation is just for your own eyes. Reach for a shared Keep note when the whole thread needs to see and add to the same thing.
One customizes your view of a conversation; the other coordinates everyone in it.
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