Google Messages

Google LLC

About this app

Google Messages is the official Google app for messaging over Rich Communication Services (RCS) with fallback to SMS/MMS. Get more done in your messages with one-tap calendar reminders and emoji replies, and keep your conversations secure with spam protection and end-to-end encryption so you can focus on connecting with the people and businesses you care about — no matter what device they use.

Know when friends are typing or when they've read your message, share high-resolution images and videos, easily add people to a group chat, and experience an all-around richer messaging experience.

End-to-end encryption secures your eligible communications, so no one (including Google and third parties) can read or view your messages and attachments except the person you’re messaging.

If a website is suspicious or unsafe, you’ll be warned before clicking any links. You can also block and report potential spammers to help stop unwanted and fraudulent messages.

Share high-resolution videos directly from your Google Photos library.

Keep the conversation going no matter what device you're on. Enjoy RCS chats with friends on your phone, computer, Android tablet, or smart watch with the Messages app.

Access suggested replies, one-tap calendar reminders, link sharing, and more without leaving your message. Reply quicker and get more out of your conversations with smart actions.

Suggested responses, gifs, and emojis make conversations faster and more fun. Reply back to messages with just a tap and keep the conversation going.

App also available on Wear OS

Ratings and reviews

Overall decent, but missed on a couple of points. I used to be able to assign a separate notification sound for all text messages that was different from the phone's system notification. This has been removed, and you can only customize the sound on a per contact basis. In addition, there used to be an option to prefilter messages from personal contacts versus business texts. This has also been removed. If Google would bring both those useful features back, I'd be happy.

Great app--but I'm done. FIX NOTIFICATIONS, PLEASE. This has been my go-to text app for years, but I'm about to switch to something else for a stupid, easily fixed reason: incessant device pairing notifications that you can't turn off without also turning off text alerts. My phone goes off every time I open or click into a browser window on a paired device. It's driving me absolutely up the wall, and I'm done. People have complained about this for years. Google hasn't fixed it. It's so basic.

No separate notification sounds = unusable. It's amazing that I can see the emoji reactions that my iPhone family members give to my messages! But, there's no option to use a separate notification sound from the system default. I have to set it on a per-contact basis. That's a deal-breaker for me, as not having the distinction from other notifications causes me to miss texts. I'll give it more stars if they add that feature in the future. Until then, I'll be using a different messaging app.