It’s not hyperbolic to say that Google has been very thirsty about Nano Banana following its viral success. In Google Messages, the access points for the Nano Banana-powered Remix are being greatly toned down following the November launch.
When you long-press on an image in a conversation, the “Remix” pill with a glow in the bottom-left corner is now appreciably smaller. The more important change is how Google has removed the banana emoji. In its place is a generic image icon badged with an AI sparkle.
I personally didn’t mind the Remix button at its original size, but the emoji was pretty distracting and harder to ignore alongside text.
Old vs. new
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Meanwhile, Google has removed the Remix button entirely from the redesigned fullscreen viewer to let you clearly see the image without obstruction. (Tip: Tap again to hide everything but the image.)
That button has been moved to the bottom-left corner and is now a circle next to the comment count. The two side-by-side shapes look a bit busy, but it does get the job done.
Google in early December said it was “actively working on improvements and refining the feature to make it smoother, more user-friendly, and enjoyable for everyone” in response to your feedback.
We’re seeing these Nano Banana Remix changes with the latest Google Messages beta (version 20251212_00_RC01).
Google is also testing a Nano Banana button at the top of the Google app that opens Lens to the Create tab. Similarly, following the launch of Nano Banana Pro, gemini.google.com advertised it with a banner that would reappear with every page load. Overall, I think Google should begin to phase out the banana emoji icon for something subtler.
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