Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- A bug in the latest Google Messages beta automatically prompts emoji reactions in chats where the last received message is an image.
- The issue apparently appears only in the recent v20250406 beta version and not in older stable releases.
- You can avoid the problem by downgrading to a stable build or by sending or receiving a text message right after receiving an image.
Google Messages is the primary vehicle for RCS messages on Android flagships, and millions of users rely on it. However, the app occasionally encounters bugs that break the messaging experience, sometimes in funny ways. The latest bug spotted in Google Messages keeps prompting users to emoji react to an image, and it’s funnily annoying.
Several users on Reddit (like 1, 2, 3) have been complaining of emoji reactions popping up automatically on image messages, making it very easy to accidentally react to something even if you don’t mean to. This notably happens when the image is the last incoming message, which gets very annoying very quickly if you exit and re-enter such chats. The popup doesn’t break Google Messages completely, but it does add an extra step to texting as you have to defocus out of the emoji panel to send another text.
The user reports don’t mention the Google Messages build on which people are facing this issue, but AndroidPolice mentions that they could reproduce the bug on their devices only when running the latest v20250406 beta but not on the slightly older v20250326 stable release of the app.
The usual troubleshooting steps don’t work, and the only way to stop the panel from resurfacing on an image is to send or receive a text message in that conversation. However, if you receive another image (and it becomes the last message in that chat), you will be prompted for an emoji reaction again.
You can also migrate back to the stable release channel, which is a more sensible solution, as beta channel releases are naturally buggy. Hopefully, this is actually a bug and not a feature that Google is considering for Messages.
Have you encountered the annoying and repeated emoji reaction popup in Google Messages? What app version are you using? Let us know in the comments below!
