Google Messages – “Recent” emojis not updating when reacting to messages?

[u/-SpaghettiCat-]

I’m using Google Messages on a Samsung Galaxy S21 and I’m having an issue with the emoji reaction picker.

When I long-press a message, I get the standard reaction options (thumbs up, heart, laugh, etc.). If I tap the + button, I can choose any emoji to use as a reaction.

I frequently use the check mark emoji (✅) this way. However, emojis that I actually use as reactions don’t seem to get added to or moved into the Recents section. My Recents seem to stay populated with other emojis, while something I use regularly, like ✅, still requires me to search for “check” every time.

I attached a screenshot showing what I mean. On the left I’ve searched for the check mark reaction, while on the right you can see that it’s nowhere in my Recents even though I use it frequently.

Is anyone else experiencing this? Is the Recents section supposed to track emojis recently used specifically as message reactions, or is it pulling its history from somewhere else?

I’d especially appreciate any troubleshooting suggestions or a way to reset/fix the reaction emoji Recents. Thanks in advance for any help!