Google Messages is getting much stricter about pinning chats

Aug 3, 2026 — 11:58 AM ET

• Google Messages is working on a new Chat pinning UI that allows you to pin up to six conversations.
• This new UI allows you to reorder your pinned chats.
• You’ll also be able to select contacts from a list or search for them to add to your selection.

When there are certain conversations that you want to keep in quick reach, Google Messages allows you to pin those chats, keeping them at the top of the list. Currently, the app allows you to pin up to 20 messages. However, Google is working on a change that will greatly reduce the number of chats you can pin.

Google is preparing a new pinning surface for the Messages app (via Nerd’s Chalk) in the latest beta. This new pinning UI, titled “Select chats to pin,” is a new page where you can select up to six conversations to pin. These pinned chats appear in a “Selected” row at the top of the screen. Below that row is a list of recent conversations to choose from, and a list of contacts appears below that. You’ll also be able to search for chats to pin by tapping on the magnifying glass in the top right corner.

Going from 20 pins down to only six is a big downgrade. However, this change does come with the benefit of being able to reorder your pinned chats. Currently, the app handles the ordering of your pinned chats. If you receive a message from one of those pinned conversations, that chat is shuffled to the top of the list automatically. With this change, pinned chats will always stay in the order you selected.

In addition to the new picker, Google is also working on new swipe actions. The current version of the app offers swipe actions for archiving, deleting, or marking as read/unread.

<string name="swipe_actions_block">Block or unblock</string> <string name="swipe_actions_pin">Pin or unpin</string>However, strings of code in the app suggest you’ll be able to use this action to block or unblock a contact. Additionally, swiping will give you the option to pin or unpin a chat.

In related news, the latest Messages beta also lets users reorder attachment pills. Rearranging can be done by long-pressing and dragging them to your preferred spot in the grid.

⚠️An

APK teardownhelps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.