Google Messages is about to introduce a trio of new features, some of which might already be available for some users. If you’ve used RCS (Rich Communication Services) to create a group chat, you’re likely familiar with the default icon that gets assigned. 
Right now, the icon for your RCS groups is automatically created based on your device’s settings, and you have no control over it. But with the upcoming Android 16, Google will allow users to customize these icons for group chats.
This new customization feature will let you change the icon of existing RCS groups or choose a custom one for new ones. The icon can either come from photos stored on your device or be selected from a variety of illustrations provided by Google
. You’ll find two options at the top: Device Photos and Illustrations. With this change, users will have more flexibility to personalize their group chats.
Another exciting feature coming to Google Messages is notification snoozing. This lets you temporarily mute notifications for specific chats. You can choose to snooze notifications for 1 hour, 8 hours, 24 hours, or even forever. 
Chats with snoozed notifications will have a small clock icon on the home screen, and inside the chat, a pop-up will show how long the snooze lasts. If you’re tagged (@mentioned) in a snoozed group chat, you can still receive notifications, ensuring you don’t miss important messages.
Lastly, the RCS tags feature is designed to make it easier to distinguish between SMS and RCS chats. When a contact has RCS enabled, their name will be tagged with an RCS indicator, visible in your contacts list
. If the contact has multiple numbers, the one with RCS enabled will have the tag. In dark mode, it’s especially easy to differentiate, as RCS users will have their names highlighted with a Material You shade, while non-RCS users will appear in plain white text.
These three features are rolling out over the next few days. Users with Pixel devices running the Android 16 QPR1 Beta 2 version can already experience the snooze notifications feature. To snooze a chat, simply long-press on a conversation and tap the alarm clock icon with a “z” to bring up the snooze options.