Google Messages Just Made a Controversial Change to YouTube Links

Saturday, 29 November 2025 at 09:16

Google is tweaking how we share things, and this one might annoy a lot of Android users. The company is changing how YouTube previews and links look inside the Google Messages app. While the new look is cleaner, a key piece of information is now gone: the video URL.

In the past, when you sent a YouTube link, you saw a lot of text: the full URL, the video preview, the title, a description, and the domain name. Now, Google is streamlining the view. If you send only the link—no extra comment—the visible URL at the top will disappear entirely. The preview image gets slightly taller, and the text below looks bigger with a lighter background.

Why Removing the URL Is a Big Deal

This change to hide the URL is going to be hugely controversial. I can already hear the complaints. Why would users be upset?

First, trust matters. Seeing the full URL gives you instant verification of the link's destination. Without it, you are forced to rely only on the video title and the image. This matters a lot in an age where phishing and bad links are everywhere. Many people rely on that visible URL as a basic security check before tapping anything.

Second, the current default is to hide the URL, which forces users to change their habits. If you include even a simple comment—like "Check this out!"—the URL will remain. This is a crucial distinction. Google is essentially making the sharing experience cleaner, but only by sacrificing a small piece of user control and information. It's a classic trade-off between design sleekness and user transparency.

How to Get the URL Back

If you prefer the old way—where the URL is always visible—you do have options. Google included ways to restore the original view. This is good news, as it gives the user a choice, even if the new default is annoying.

Here is what you need to do inside the Google Messages app:

Tap the profile icon in the upper right corner.
Go to Messages Settings.
Choose Automatic previews.
Disable either Show all previews or Show only web link previews.

Disabling the preview option will stop the images and descriptions from loading. Instead, you will see only the clean URL text, which is what many advanced users prefer for quick safety checks. While removing the URL makes the chat cleaner, I believe giving users less information by default is always a risky design choice.

The new YouTube link preview in Google Messages looks much cleaner without the URL. But for many Android users, that missing URL is a necessary security measure that Google should not have removed by default.

Key Takeaways

URL Removed: Google Messages will now hide the YouTube video URL when a user sends only the link in a conversation.
New Look: The link preview is now cleaner, featuring a taller image preview and larger text below it.
Controversy: The change is expected to be controversial, as the visible URL is key for users to verify the link's safety.
Workaround 1 (Comment): If you include any text or comment with the YouTube link, the URL will remain visible at the top.
Workaround 2 (Settings): Users can force the URL to show by going to Messages Settings and disabling Automatic previews.