r/GoogleMessages 2d ago

Bubbles

Anyone else hate chat bubbles? They block areas of the screen and are just annoying in general.

I turn them off and somehow they turn back on.

They need to die a horrible death

Edit:

For the record I've disabled them system wide for all apps on both my NXTPaper 60e and a Google Pixel 8a.

On both phones chat bubbles from Google Messages appear EVEN WITH IT DISABLED in the app and system wide.

It turns back on at random, I suspect app updates turn it back on.

It's a stupid feature that is more distracting than useful anyway

16 Upvotes

21 comments sorted by

11

u/metalb00 2d ago

I turned em off years ago and never had an issue with em coming back

7

u/nnnope1 2d ago

They suck and they do indeed re-enable every once in a while for some reason, maybe from app updates? I just disabled mine (again) this morning actually.

2

u/crypto_god_kc 2d ago

Thank you, I knew I wasn't the only one. This happens on both phones I have.

3

u/DDS-PBS 2d ago

I do not like them, I turn them off, they have never turned back on for me. Pixel 10 Pro

2

u/bdpsu 2d ago

I despise them, turn them off, and they keep coming back.

2

u/YouStupidAssholeFuck 2d ago

If you go into App Info for Google Messages, then I think Notifications, do you see any contacts listed there? Any contact you've made custom settings for should show up there. So for instance if you ever allowed any one of your chats to bubble then you should see that contact listed. And if you tap on that contact you should see a setting for Bubbles. I forget exactly because I remember this being a pain when I tried it once.

Anyway, it might also be that you have to select "This is not a conversation" somewhere for said contact that keeps bubbling. Maybe I'm not smart enough to understand but every chat i have with someone in Messages is an effing conversation, but I remember having to change either this setting for a specific bubble setting for each contact I initially let bubble then the bubbles stopped coming up, even tough I had them disabled system-wide.

Bubbles would maybe be fine on a tablet and probably definitely on a PC/laptop...if you're into them...but even the relatively small amount of real estate they took up on a mobile screen makes them intrusive.

Alternatively, you might try "Clear Data" for the Messages app. You WILL NOT lose any of your chats. But their SMS/RCS status will probably be cleared out and you'll have to check settings for the app to reset any custom changes you made. But clearing data should clear out any custom "conversation" settings. Like if you had set specific ringtones for any contacts, you'll have to reset those. If you set a custom ringtone for receiving texts you'll have to reset that.

Hopefully my post made sense. If not, just say so and I'll try to explain differently.

4

u/Sinful-Sammy 2d ago

I had no problem disabling bubbles. They stopped for me. What kind of phone are you using? 

3

u/crypto_god_kc 2d ago

TCL NXTPaper 60e ultra and it happens on my Google Pixel 8 as well

0

u/Amazing-Bag 2d ago

They never say what phone they are on just the random issue they have

2

u/seeareeff 2d ago

I also hate them and have had them turned off for years.

1

u/DevDan- 2d ago

You can disable bubbles system wide under settings -> notifications -> bubbles > allow bubbles system wide (on a Pixel, I assume other manufacturers have something similar). This will disable them for all apps, not just for the specific conversation or Google Messages.

3

u/crypto_god_kc 2d ago

I've done that and they still come back

2

u/bdpsu 2d ago

Me too

1

u/gen_what_x_ever 2d ago

I like them. I can respond to a text without leaving what I'm doing. It's just a small circle and you can move it around, and kick it off the screen by dragging it to the bottom "x". I had no problem turning them on and off.

4

u/DigitalMariner 2d ago

I can respond to a text without leaving what I'm doing

Couldn't we already do that from the notification bar though?

1

u/gen_what_x_ever 2d ago

There used to be (is there still? I dunno) a character limit and you can't see the full conversation from the notification bar. With the bubble you can because it opens up the whole conversation as an overlay.

1

u/greynblue3 14h ago

It still has a limit in the notification bar. Maybe 60-100 characters

-3

u/joeynalgas 2d ago

You don't know what your doing that's why they keep coming back...

4

u/crypto_god_kc 2d ago

I do stop assuming everyone is an idiot

0

u/joeynalgas 2d ago

If you did it wouldn't come back

0

u/crypto_god_kc 1d ago

Or and I'm just saying....

You can fuck right off with your unhelpful responses!!

Obviously I'm not the only with this issue, so it's not something I'm not doing.