{"id":216682,"date":"2026-02-23T15:44:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T20:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/23\/google-messages-changes-up-how-you-start-group-chats\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T16:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T21:05:09","slug":"google-messages-changes-up-how-you-start-group-chats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/23\/google-messages-changes-up-how-you-start-group-chats\/","title":{"rendered":"Google Messages changes up how you start group chats"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/google-messages-group-chats-3643242\/\">Google Messages changes up how you start group chats<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/google-messages-group-chats-3643242\/\">https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/google-messages-group-chats-3643242\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Publish Date: <a href=\"publish_date]\">2026-02-23 15:44:00<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Source Domain: <a href=\"www.androidauthority.com\">www.androidauthority.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Joe Maring \/ Android Authority<\/p>\n<p>TL;DR<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Google Messages has required users to tap a button when they want to start a new group chat.<\/li>\n<li>Messages is now switching to a new workflow that treats new chats like groups by default.<\/li>\n<li>For one-on-one chats, you\u2019ll just tap \u201cNext\u201d after selecting your contact.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>How many group chats do you have going on right now in Messages? There\u2019s probably a good chance you\u2019re juggling a few at a time, whether friends, family, or co-workers, and when you need to get a new group chat started, Google Messages makes it nice and easy to spin up a fresh one. But the next time you go to do that, you might notice that things feel a little bit different, as Google tweaks the new-chat workflow in Messages.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Don\u2019t want to miss the best from Android Authority?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><img class=\"e_Gh\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"9.375rem\" title=\"google preferred source badge light@2x\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/google_preferred_source_badge_light@2x.png 676w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/google_preferred_source_badge_light@2x-64w-20h.png 64w\" alt=\"google preferred source badge light@2x\" src=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/google_preferred_source_badge_light@2x.png\"\/><img class=\"e_Gh\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"9.375rem\" title=\"google preferred source badge dark@2x\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/google_preferred_source_badge_dark@2x.png 676w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/google_preferred_source_badge_dark@2x-64w-20h.png 64w\" alt=\"google preferred source badge dark@2x\" src=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/google_preferred_source_badge_dark@2x.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>So far, Google Messages has offered two separate paths towards getting a conversation started. To begin one, you hit the \u201cStart chat\u201d button in the bottom-right of the screen, which pulls up your contacts. At this point, you can tap on a contact directly to start messaging with them one-on-one.<\/p>\n<p>If, instead, you want to start a group chat, there\u2019s a \u201cCreate group\u201d button up top. Hitting that brings you to a very similar-looking screen, but here you can select multiple contacts, finally tapping \u201cNext\u201d when you\u2019ve chosen them all and are ready to group chat.<\/p>\n<p>That works perfectly well, but in version messages.android_20260217_00_RC00.phone.openbeta_dynamic we see Google trying out a slightly revised approach here, one that feels like it places a greater emphasis on group chats.<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"e_Gh\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"calc(min(calc(100vw - 1.875rem), 51.25rem) \/ 4)\" title=\"google messages new chat 1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-1.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-1-29w-64h.jpg 29w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-1-1000w-2223h.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-1-648w-1440h.jpg 648w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-1-486w-1080h.jpg 486w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-1-389w-864h.jpg 389w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-1-171w-380h.jpg 171w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-1-540w-1200h.jpg 540w\" alt=\"google messages new chat 1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-1.jpg\"\/><span class=\"e_Jl\">Old UI<\/span><img class=\"e_Gh\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"calc(min(calc(100vw - 1.875rem), 51.25rem) \/ 4)\" title=\"google messages new chat 2\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-2.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-2-29w-64h.jpg 29w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-2-1000w-2200h.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-2-655w-1440h.jpg 655w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-2-491w-1080h.jpg 491w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-2-393w-864h.jpg 393w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-2-173w-380h.jpg 173w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-2-545w-1200h.jpg 545w\" alt=\"google messages new chat 2\" src=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-2.jpg\"\/><span class=\"e_Jl\">New UI<\/span><img class=\"e_Gh\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"calc(min(calc(100vw - 1.875rem), 51.25rem) \/ 4)\" title=\"google messages new chat 3\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-3.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-3-29w-64h.jpg 29w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-3-1000w-2200h.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-3-655w-1440h.jpg 655w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-3-491w-1080h.jpg 491w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-3-393w-864h.jpg 393w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-3-173w-380h.jpg 173w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-3-545w-1200h.jpg 545w\" alt=\"google messages new chat 3\" src=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-3.jpg\"\/><span class=\"e_Jl\">Starting 1-on-1 chat<\/span><img class=\"e_Gh\" decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" sizes=\"calc(min(calc(100vw - 1.875rem), 51.25rem) \/ 4)\" title=\"google messages new chat 4\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-4.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-4-29w-64h.jpg 29w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-4-1000w-2200h.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-4-655w-1440h.jpg 655w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-4-491w-1080h.jpg 491w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-4-393w-864h.jpg 393w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-4-173w-380h.jpg 173w, https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-4-545w-1200h.jpg 545w\" alt=\"google messages new chat 4\" src=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-new-chat-4.jpg\"\/><span class=\"e_Jl\">Starting group chat<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Users running this release are starting to see a new \u201cStart chat\u201d screen that eliminates the \u201cCreate group\u201d button at the top entirely. Instead, Messages basically defaults to an interface that lets you select multiple contacts. Now, when you tap the first one, you can either hit \u201cNext\u201d to immediately start messaging, or keep selecting&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/google-messages-group-chats-3643242\/\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Google Messages changes up how you start group chats https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/google-messages-group-chats-3643242\/ Publish Date: 2026-02-23 15:44:00 Source&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":216683,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.androidauthority.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google-messages-logo-feb-2026-hero-1-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[70],"class_list":["post-216682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-android","tag-google"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216682"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216682"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":216684,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216682\/revisions\/216684"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}