Google Messages has been the default messaging app on many Android phones and carriers for years, but that hasn’t stopped people from looking for alternatives. Although Google Messages has such a hold on the messaging ecosystem on Android, the app has missed out on some much-needed core features that would make a huge difference in the app’s basic usefulness. Fortunately, Google seems to be aware of at least some of the places that Messages is missing, and the company seems to intend to make changes that will help improve the way you and I use Google Messages in the future.
Before delving further into this topic, it’s worth noting that each of these features was discovered in beta versions of the Google Messages app via APK teardowns or has not been fully rolled out and is therefore considered under testing at this time. That means these features aren’t exactly prime time yet, and could change significantly before Google introduces them properly. Google Messages fixed its biggest problem with the introduction of Smart Replies, but this app still seemed simple compared to other messaging apps, including the now-defunct Samsung Messages app. As such, any type of movement to broaden the bases is a huge win in my opinion.
Better sharing and smarter group chats
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One of the most frustrating features of Google Messages is the sharing menu. Yes, it’s very easy to share something with someone else, but if you try to share with multiple people, things get tricky. For one thing, Messages wasn’t able to find out if you already have existing groups with these people, so if you forget you have one, you could end up with two or even more. That appears to be changing, however, as a Google Messages user shared screenshots on Reddit of what this change looks like in its most recent version as of this writing.
After seeing the message, I then checked my own version of Google Messages and found that I had the same functionality. Essentially, when you choose to share something via Google Messages, the app now offers the option to send the content to contacts in groups or individually. It may seem small, but it’s a much-needed change that will ultimately make it easier to use Messages to share content.
In addition to the changes to the menu itself, the user also noted that Google Messages was now able to tell when you already had a group that existed with the selected users, and that if you tried to send images or videos to RCS and MMS users in a group chat, it would notify you when MMS users are included so you can remove them and create a separate group for RCS users.
Facilitate the transfer of multiple messages
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Another way Google Messages appears to be changing this year is how it handles message forwarding. According to an APK teardown from Android Authority, Google has already integrated the necessary code to make this happen, and the people behind the teardown were able to enable the transfer of multiple images and texts into the app starting with the latest Google Messages beta.
Once this feature is enabled, journalists say they could easily select multiple messages – including images – and then use a new overflow menu offering an option to forward all messages at once. You can even select the contact you want to send the messages to and see a preview of the messages before sending them. This part is also new, as the current setup doesn’t give you insight into what you’re transferring, meaning any second guessers may have to backtrack to make sure they’re transferring the right thing.
The feature is still under development, even based on what we’ve seen so far. But given that forwarding messages currently requires you to select a single message and then forward each one individually, I’ll be in favor of any kind of evolution to something that seems more efficient. Hopefully it won’t take long for Google to bring this feature to mainstream users, because I’d like to be able to take advantage of the improved forwarding in Google Messages before the end of the year.
