Google Messages more widely rolling out circular read receipts redesign

In August of 2024, Google Messages started testing a circular redesign of read receipts. This has been slowly rolling out since then, and there now looks to be wide availability for beta users.

Instead of appearing below the message bubble, read receipts are now integrated into the bottom-right corner. This also applies to standalone media. Additionally, the double bubble design is replaced by one circle with four states:

To see what time a message was sent, as well as the RCS encryption lock, you now swipe left. Tapping, like before, results in a bounce animation to signal the new behavior. Swipe right to reply to a message.

The new read receipts also appear in the main conversation list. 

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Google has been testing this redesign for some time. Some stable users have seen this for months. On the beta,…