I tried convincing my friend to switch to Google Messages, and it didn’t go well
Google Messages has become the de facto texting platform for Android - here’s why that matters so much.
Meanwhile, the impending interface change to Google Messages' landscape orientation hasn’t been officially announced or confirmed by the company. Rather, we know of its existence within version messages.android_20250427_01_RC00.phone.openbeta_dynamic of the app due to an APK teardown, courtesy of Android Authority.
In its current in-testing state, this aesthetic tweak appears to improve the UI proportionality ofGoogle Messageswhen using a phone-sized screen in its landscape orientation. For reference, in the current stable build of the app, there’s a strange left-justified offset across the chat thread – Google appears to be on track to iron out this oversight in the near future.
Google Messages
Google’s default messaging application, which is installed on many Android phones out of the box. The company’s custom RCS implementation brings with it end-to-end encryption.
Google Messages is jumping from strength to strength
It’s taken far too long to get here, but text messaging on Android is finally a well-rounded experience
As mentioned, Google has been making strides in improving the functionality of its Messages app for some time now. After years ofscrambling and squanderingvarious Apple iMessage competitor initiatives, the search giant has finally settled on a platform that’s worth its salt.
In many ways, Google Messages has evolved into the de facto text messaging app for Android, with its cross-device syncing capabilities, its built-inRich Communication Services(RCS) chat technology, and its incorporation of Gemini-powered artificial intelligence tools.
Most recently, the companyhas been working to incorporatesuch features as a sensitive content warning system, real-time location sharing, and in-line PDF previewing into the Google Messages experience. As a platform, Messages is making inroads against competitors likeiMessageandWhatsApp, but I do hope to see even more improvements made down the line.
I hope to see the day Google relents on its anti-competitive stance when it comes to RCS texting.
In particular, I’d love to see the reintroduction of thetext message auto-categorizationfeature that we only briefly got a tease of back in 2020. Aside from this, I’d love to see the addition of a send delay setting, as well as the ability to customize the backdrop and color accents on a per-conversation level. Perhaps most importantly, I hope to see the day Google relents on its anti-competitive stance when it comes to RCS texting, by creating a robust API forthird-party Android texting appsto tap into.
Google Messages is set to get even more useful thanks to a new update
Google is working on two new features for its RCS Messages platform on Android: a sensitive content warning system, and real-time location sharing.
