Make a fake Android text in seven steps
Open the Android look
Open the fake Android text message generator. Android is already picked in the Phone switch next to the preview. If you started on another look, tap Android there; your messages, names and times carry over.
Name the contact
In the People tab, type a name or a phone number in the Contact field. Tap the circle next to it to add a photo, which stays on your device. The name sits in the header next to the photo. For a group text, switch Chat type to Group and add up to eight people.
Write the thread
In the Messages tab, type in the box at the bottom and press Me for your side or Them for theirs. Your texts sit on the right and theirs on the left. The sender button on each card flips a text to the other side, and the handle on the left drags it to a new place.
Choose RCS or SMS
The Message type switch next to the preview sets RCS or SMS. RCS is the chat mode Google Messages uses between phones that support it. SMS adds the line Texting with [name] (SMS/MMS) under the first date label, the way the app marks a plain text thread, and the message box at the bottom says Text message instead of RCS message.
Set the times and Read
Open Details on a message and type its time under Time under message. Google Messages shows the time under the last bubble of a run only, and so does the editor, so set it on the last text before the other person replies. On your newest sent text, pick Delivered or Read; it shows after the time, as in 10:42 • Read.
Set the status bar
In the Status bar tab, set the clock, a network label such as 5G or LTE, signal, Wi-Fi and battery. Show battery % and Charging are switches. The Unread count field in People adds a number next to the back arrow.
Download the PNG
Press Download PNG to save a 1080 × 2424 image, or Copy to paste it straight into a video editor or chat. Switch Theme to Dark first for the dark Google Messages look, and set Screenshot height to Fit all messages for one tall image of a long chat.
How to make it look real
- Type a phone number in the Contact field when the person is not saved in the phone. It shows in the header instead of a name.
- Pick RCS for a modern chat and SMS when the story calls for plain texts. The SMS line under the first date label comes with it.
- Add a date label with the calendar button when the chat skips to another day, for example Yesterday or Mon 9:12 PM.
- Set the status bar clock a little after the last text, and pick a network label that fits the scene, such as LTE in the countryside.
- In a group text, give everyone a name. Each name shows above that person’s first text in a run, and the header lists the names when the group has no name of its own.
- Leave the typing bubble at the bottom if the joke is that they are still answering.
Mistakes that give a fake Android text away
iPhone habits on an Android chat
Blue and green bubbles, the word iMessage or a big Read label under the bubble belong to an iPhone. Keep the Android chat in Google Messages style from start to finish.
A time under every bubble
Google Messages groups a run of texts and shows one time under the last one. Times on every bubble make the thread look pasted together.
Read on old messages
Only your newest sent text shows Read or Delivered. Leave the older ones on None.
What people make with it
Skits and storytime videos with an Android character, film props, app mockups that show a texting flow, and lessons on what scam texts look like. The same chat can switch to the iPhone look in one tap, which helps when a story has one person on each kind of phone.
Keep it fiction. It may not be passed off as a real conversation, used as evidence or used to impersonate anyone. Details are at /acceptable-use.