Android Messages Update With Dark Mode, Material Theme Elements Is Rolling Out Again

Android Messages with the Dark Mode and Google's Material Theme elements has now made a comeback. The latest development comes days after Google silently rolled back the experience that debuted on Android Messages version 3.5 earlier this month. That update brought a Dark Mode and Material Theme elements alongside a Smart Reply feature that first arrived on Inbox by Gmail in 2015. The Android Messages app also initially added the machine learning-backed Smart Reply feature in January this year, but that was limited to Project Fi users.

As noticed by Artem Russakovskii of Android Police, an updated Android Messages app (version 3.5.052) has debuted that brings back the list of recent features, including the dark and Material Theme elements. The updated app is rolling out for download through Google Play. Meanwhile, you can get its APK file directly from APK Mirror. As Russakovskii noted, you need to run the app once and then force close it by tapping the Force Stop button after going to App info of the Android Messages app from the Settings menu to experience the new features.

Among other features, the updated Android Messages has a bunch of Material Theme elements that show a completely white background as well as Google Sans font. The revamped interface also replaces the original '+' icon with a larger button that by default shows the 'Start chat' text. The text gets replaced with the new message icon once you scroll down.

The updated Android Messages app also includes the Dark Mode that helps you comfortably read text messages at night or under low-light conditions. The mode, as its name suggests, limits the emission of unwanted light from the screen. It also changes the font colour from black to white and the messages that you sent to a recipient come in a light blue bubble along with a darker blue font.

You can enable Dark Mode on the updated Messages app by tapping the three-dot menu key from the top-right corner for the screen and then selecting the Enable Dark Mode option. By following the same process, you can switch back to the normal mode as well.

Google hasn't provided any clarity on why it rolled back the update previously. However, we presume that the search giant won't repeat history this time and will now continue with the updated Android Messages app.