Google Chat, the Workspace messaging app that replaced Hangouts, looks set to get emoji that render in HDR. The clue sits in the newest Gmail Android build, where an APK teardown turned up a code string describing emoji displayed “in high dynamic range (HDR) with enhanced brightness and contrast.”
What the feature does
The code calls it HDR emoji, nothing fancier. On a screen that supports HDR, emoji would show with more brightness and stronger contrast than standard ones, which in practice means they’d pop against the chat background the way an HDR photo does next to a normal one. The string talks about “supported emoji” rather than naming custom ones specifically, so this could cover the whole emoji set on a compatible phone, not only the custom emoji Workspace admins upload.
Why it turned up in Gmail
Chat lives inside the Gmail app on Android, so any work on Chat features tends to show in Gmail’s code first. That’s also why the find came from a Gmail teardown rather than a Chat one.
Where it fits
Google has been working HDR into its messaging apps for a while. The Messages app had Ultra HDR image support in 2023, lost it in a 2025 redesign, and code to bring it back properly has been spotted in this year’s beta builds. Emoji getting the same treatment in Chat is the obvious next step once the display pipeline is already there.
When it arrives is anyone’s guess. Google hasn’t announced HDR emoji for Chat, and teardown code sometimes never ships. But a named feature with a user-facing description usually means it’s close to testing rather than an idea on a whiteboard.
