San Francisco, Feb 6 (IANS): Google Messages is reportedly getting a visual makeover with a Gmail-inspired navigation drawer that improves the messaging experience on Android phones, at least for those who are part of its beta programme.

The new design began appearing in the latest beta version of Messages a few days after 9to5Google discovered the changes. The same site has now spotted the feature's beta testing, and it brings an old-school hamburger menu, as expected, reports Android Central.

The three-dot menu that was previously located in the top right corner of the app has been removed in the new design. Instead, Messages has replaced that feature with a hamburger menu on the opposite side of the app.

It contains the same essential options, such as "Messages", "Starred", "Archived", and "Spam & blocked". In a separate section at the bottom of the menu, users will see the theme and device pairing options.

In the current version of Messages, all of these options are located within the three-dot menu, making that section a bit crowded.

If users prefer Google's old way of organising things, the switch to navigation drawer may be appealing, the report said.

It is an interesting change seeing as Google recently got rid of this type of interface, most notably from the Play Store in favor of tabs, it added.

Alongside the retro navigation menu is the arrival of Google Photos integration with Messages, which first popped up in November of last year. This feature allows you to share videos in higher quality than MMS via the app.