The new Profile UI, once a plain landscape of text and icons, now boasts the sophistication of Material You theme elements, representing a departure from the mundane to a visually enriched experience.

Google was spotted working on this limitation back in December 2024 in the form of custom RCS group chat profile photos, and it looks like the functionality is beginning to roll out to some users now.

The new UI lines up Gmail, Chat, Spaces, and Meet in their own side rail. The new UI lines up Gmail, Chat, Spaces, and Meet in their own side rail. Richard Lawler is a senior editor following news ...

The new 'Start chat' interface isn't live yet, and while it is unclear when it might roll out, it's safe to speculate that it will launch alongside the search UI revamp.