Animated emojis in Messages app

[Stan Brown]

On my old phone, emojis all (or at least all the ones I used)
appeared as static pictures. However, on my new phone (Samsung A54,
Android 13), in Google Messaging with Samsung Keyboard, all of them
seem to be animated. The smiley face blinks its eyes or rolls around,
the thumbs-up has the thumb bending down against the fingers and then
up again, and so forth.

I think this is not intrinsic to the emoji characters themselves,
because after I sent a text containing the thumb to my brother, I
asked if he saw it as animated or static and he replied "static".

I've looked in Samsung Keyboard settings and Google Messages
settings, but can't find any way to turn off these local animations.
Anyone have a suggestion?

--
Stan Brown, Tehachapi, California, USA https://BrownMath.com/
Shikata ga nai...

[Carlos E.R.]

On 2023-12-21 21:56, Stan Brown wrote:
>
> On my old phone, emojis all (or at least all the ones I used)
> appeared as static pictures. However, on my new phone (Samsung A54,
> Android 13), in Google Messaging with Samsung Keyboard, all of them
> seem to be animated. The smiley face blinks its eyes or rolls around,
> the thumbs-up has the thumb bending down against the fingers and then
> up again, and so forth.
>
> I think this is not intrinsic to the emoji characters themselves,
> because after I sent a text containing the thumb to my brother, I
> asked if he saw it as animated or static and he replied "static".

Ok, so it is a feature of that phone that displays normal emoji in a not
normal mode, ie, moving.

It is of course up to the local machine (phone, computer, whatever) to
display any character as it sees fit. But that is not what it is
transmitted, it just sends "character number xyz".

> I've looked in Samsung Keyboard settings and Google Messages
> settings, but can't find any way to turn off these local animations.
> Anyone have a suggestion?

No, sorry, first time I hear of them.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

[VanguardLH]

Stan Brown <the_sta...@fastmail.fm> wrote:

> On my old phone, emojis all (or at least all the ones I used)
> appeared as static pictures. However, on my new phone (Samsung A54,
> Android 13), in Google Messaging with Samsung Keyboard, all of them
> seem to be animated. The smiley face blinks its eyes or rolls around,
> the thumbs-up has the thumb bending down against the fingers and then
> up again, and so forth.
>
> I think this is not intrinsic to the emoji characters themselves,
> because after I sent a text containing the thumb to my brother, I
> asked if he saw it as animated or static and he replied "static".
>
> I've looked in Samsung Keyboard settings and Google Messages
> settings, but can't find any way to turn off these local animations.
> Anyone have a suggestion?

Up to the client on how it renders an emoji.

There are animated emojis (GIFs). The client decides whether to show
the frames in sequence in the GIF, or if it just show the first frame.

Back in Jul 2023, Google updates their Messages app to change emoji-only
messages into "expressive and delightful" animations.

https://9to5google.com/2023/07/10/google-messages-animated-emoji-responses/

All up to the client-side app how to handle any characters in a message.
Your e-mail client probably makes clickable URL strings. They are still
just all text, but the client makes the string clickable if it looks
similar to a URL string.

[Stan Brown]

On Thu, 21 Dec 2023 17:01:10 -0600, VanguardLH wrote:
> Stan Brown <the_sta...@fastmail.fm> wrote:
> > I've looked in Samsung Keyboard settings and Google Messages
> > settings, but can't find any way to turn off these local animations.
> > Anyone have a suggestion?
>
> Up to the client on how it renders an emoji.

Well, yes, I figured. But as I mentioned I couldn't find any way in
the apps' settings to disable them.

> There are animated emojis (GIFs). The client decides whether to show
> the frames in sequence in the GIF, or if it just show the first frame.
>
> Back in Jul 2023, Google updates their Messages app to change emoji-only
> messages into "expressive and delightful" animations.

One man's "expressive and delightful" is another's "annoying and
distracting". I wonder what these constantly moving things do to
people with ADHD.

> https://9to5google.com/2023/07/10/google-messages-animated-emoji-responses/
>
> All up to the client-side app how to handle any characters in a message.
> Your e-mail client probably makes clickable URL strings. They are still
> just all text, but the client makes the string clickable if it looks
> similar to a URL string.

Thanks for the URL. I read the article, and did some Google searching
of my own. Apparently you can only disable this annoyance by turning
off animations system wide, which seems really stupid to me.

I guess I'm going to have to waste time searching and and testing a
replacement Messages app. I guess I'll start by giving the Samsung
app another try. I initially disabled it because I didn't like the
user interface, and downloaded Google's which I had used on my
previous phone. But I can no longer remember just what I disliked
about the UI, and maybe it's less annoying than these animations.

[VanguardLH]

"In the grand scheme, this is a minor change that brings Google Messages
in line with other chat apps."

Well, if they're duplicating what other apps already do, you're screwed
unless those other chat apps give you more granular control, like
options that apply only within scope of the app where you could disable
animation just for that app.

My reading of the Google announcement was the emoji was animated only if
it was the only emoji in the message. One emoji: animated. Two, or
more, emojis: no animation. So, I suppose a workaround would be to put
2 emojis in the message, like 2 side-by-side frown faces to show you're
doubly sad. Alas, you can't make senders use 2+ emojis as a workaround.

I found a Youtube video on how to disable animated emojis in Telegram,
but, shit, was it a convoluted method.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMhAzWC_Ft8

WhatsApp may not have animated emojis, but they're planning to.

https://wabetainfo.com/whatsapp-is-working-on-animated-emojis-feature-with-lottie-to-enhance-user-messaging-experience/

Reminds of users that flocked to Incredimail (akd IncrediMal, thankfully
died March 2020), because they wanted to bloat their messages with fluff
instead of revealing their low content.

As you said, disabling animated emojis in Google's Messages app requires
disabling animation everywhere. You're not alone in wanting to have
simple and clear communication without a bunch of childish cutesy crap
foisted on you. I consider inane the use of emojis. Too bad the chat
apps don't have an option to filter them out, like "Adult mode".

[Stan Brown]

On Fri, 22 Dec 2023 15:04:28 -0600, VanguardLH wrote:
> My reading of the Google announcement was the emoji was animated only if
> it was the only emoji in the message. One emoji: animated. Two, or
> more, emojis: no animation.

That was my reading also. Until they change it, of course.

I entered a ?Help and Feedback? suggestion in the Google Messages
app, for whatever that may be worth.

[Andy Burns]

Stan Brown wrote:

> One man's "expressive and delightful" is another's "annoying and
> distracting". I wonder what these constantly moving things do to
> people with ADHD.

I don't think they constantly move, they seem to display a couple of
cycles of the animation, then revert to a static image ... YMMV.

[Stan Brown]

My M does indeed V. I just created one, and counted 30 cycles, at
roughly one per second. I don't mean that the animation stopped after
30, I mean that I got tired of waiting for it to stop and closed the
app.

You said you "don't think" the motion persists. Out of curiosity,
what do you see when you try it? (I'm using Google Messages on a
Samsung A54 with Android 13.)

[Carlos E.R.]

On 2023-12-26 19:15, Stan Brown wrote:
> On Mon, 25 Dec 2023 08:50:09 +0000, Andy Burns wrote:
>>
>> Stan Brown wrote:
>>
>>> One man's "expressive and delightful" is another's "annoying and
>>> distracting". I wonder what these constantly moving things do to
>>> people with ADHD.
>>
>> I don't think they constantly move, they seem to display a couple of
>> cycles of the animation, then revert to a static image ... YMMV.
>
> My M does indeed V. I just created one, and counted 30 cycles, at
> roughly one per second. I don't mean that the animation stopped after
> 30, I mean that I got tired of waiting for it to stop and closed the
> app.
>
> You said you "don't think" the motion persists. Out of curiosity,
> what do you see when you try it? (I'm using Google Messages on a
> Samsung A54 with Android 13.)
>

Look in the battery savings area.

Moving things use more battery (for some definition of "more"), so there
might be an adjustment over there.

--
Cheers, Carlos.

[Stan Brown]

On Tue, 26 Dec 2023 10:15:47 -0800, Stan Brown wrote:
>
> On Mon, 25 Dec 2023 08:50:09 +0000, Andy Burns wrote:
> >
> > Stan Brown wrote:
> >
> > > One man's "expressive and delightful" is another's "annoying and
> > > distracting". I wonder what these constantly moving things do to
> > > people with ADHD.
> >
> > I don't think they constantly move, they seem to display a couple of
> > cycles of the animation, then revert to a static image ... YMMV.
>
> My M does indeed V. I just created one, and counted 30 cycles, at
> roughly one per second. I don't mean that the animation stopped after
> 30, I mean that I got tired of waiting for it to stop and closed the
> app.
>
> You said you "don't think" the motion persists. Out of curiosity,
> what do you see when you try it? (I'm using Google Messages on a
> Samsung A54 with Android 13.)

Forgot to check after this morning's software update. I'm on Android
14 now, and the behavior I describe occurs in Android 14. I'm pretty
sure the never-ending animations were the same in Android 13, but oI
have no way to check that.

[Stan Brown]

Earlier in this thread, I reported that by googling I found the only
way to stop these annoying ... oops, I mean "delightful" ... emoji
animations in Messages was to turn off all animations globally in the
phone. It sounds like you're suggesting that, and it's in
Accessibility > Vision Enhancements, but that's not a global change I
want to make.

[Carlos E.R.]

No, I'm not talking "accessibility" but "battery saving". Different
approach.

I don't know if it will exist, and what will it to, if anything; I don't
have that phone. I suggest you have a look, just in case.


>

--
Cheers, Carlos.

[Andy Burns]

Stan Brown wrote:

> Forgot to check after this morning's software update. I'm on Android
> 14 now, and the behavior I describe occurs in Android 14. I'm pretty
> sure the never-ending animations were the same in Android 13, but oI
> have no way to check that.

Android 14 on Pixel5a here, tried sending a single animated emoji to
myself in Google Messages, most of the time the sent and received
messages did constantly loop, on one occasion the sent message looped
but the received one didn't, but I can't reproduce that ...

Maybe I was thinking about MS Teams and icons that only loop a few times?

[Stan Brown]

On Wed, 27 Dec 2023 00:09:33 +0100, Carlos E.R. wrote:
> On 2023-12-26 21:43, Stan Brown wrote:

> > [quoted text muted]

> > animations in Messages was to turn off all animations globally in the
> > phone. It sounds like you're suggesting that, and it's in
> > Accessibility > Vision Enhancements, but that's not a global change I
> > want to make.
>
> No, I'm not talking "accessibility" but "battery saving". Different
> approach.
>
> I don't know if it will exist, and what will it to, if anything; I don't
> have that phone. I suggest you have a look, just in case.

I looked, and there's nothing relevant under battery saving. The
Messages app used 0.9% of battery, which doesn't seem unreasonable
since I've been getting a lot of group texts.

[Stan Brown]

Could be. I have zero experience with Teams, and I'm just fine with
that.

In the meantime, the workaround is to send _two_ emojis. The
animation happens only when a message consisting only and entirely of
a single emoji character is sent or received.

[Carlos E.R.]

Ah.

I just sent an RCS message to myself on another phone, just one emoji.
On the sending phone the resulting large sized emoji is constantly
moving. Same on the receiving side.

Both are Motorola phones running Android 13.

Kind of cute.

They are only visible if you open a chat that contains them.

--
Cheers, Carlos.