Google Messages Could Get 3D Couple Emojis, but They Aren’t Visible yet [APK Teardown]

Google has already made its wider move toward three-dimensional emoji public, announcing the Noto 3D redesign on May 12, 2026. Now, a teardown of the latest Google Messages beta points to a more specific addition: dedicated support for rendering couple emojis with the new visual treatment.

We found the new flag after decompiling Google Messages messages.android_20260928_02_RC00.phone.openbeta_dynamic and comparing its resources with the previous build. The feature remains dormant in this build, and we could not surface it in the app yet.

Google Messages is preparing 3D couple emojis

The clearest evidence is a newly added flag named enable_3d_couple_emojis. Its wording directly links the 3D treatment to couple emojis inside Google Messages, making this more specific than Google’s already-announced Noto 3D redesign.

The new string, seen below, points to an enablement control for the feature:

The flag does not reveal what the finished emojis will look like, how you will access them, or whether every existing couple combination will receive the treatment. It also provides no information about a release date, regional availability, or supported devices.

The Messages-specific implementation is the new finding

The broader 3D emoji capability is not a secret: Google has already announced the Noto 3D redesign. What is new in this build is the explicit Google Messages reference to enabling 3D couple emojis. That distinction matters because the public announcement alone did not establish that Messages was preparing this particular category for a 3D presentation.

For now, the flag shows that the Messages team is developing the feature, while its eventual presentation and availability remain unsettled. We will watch future Google Messages builds for signs of a user-facing rollout.

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