Google Messages is incredibly feature-rich. The RCS app’s choice of settings makes it a great default messaging app for your Google Pixel or any Android phone. In this guide, you’ll learn everything we think you should do to set up Google Messages on your Android device.
Enable chat features in Google Messages.
Many options are enabled in Google Messages as soon as you open the app for the first time. This group excludes Google’s “chat features” section, which includes options such as read receipts and typing indicators.
Because Google Messages handles both SMS/MMS and RCS messages, the app can implement features that would otherwise be reserved for messaging apps like WhatsApp and Telegram. These features work well for Android users, and until Apple implements the RCS standard, they will.
- Open Google Messages.
- Tap yours profile picture and tap Notification settings.
- Choose Chat features.
- Tap it Enable chat features and confirm.
With this you can toggle the features you want to enable. Read receipts are useful, as well as typing indicators, although this feature is more for others to see when you reply.
Deleting chat categories and OTP
One of the best things Google Messages can do is automatically delete one-time passwords – after 24 hours. One-time passwords can clog your inbox and make it difficult to see important conversations.
Another feature that helps you clear the clutter is organizing your messages by category. This tool will automatically separate personal and business messages into separate sections. There’s a default “All” view that shows all your conversations. Categories have been great since they were first introduced, and Google Messages reliably sorts your conversations into the right section almost every time.
- Open Google Messages.
- Tap yours profile picture and tap Notification settings.
- Hit it Organization of messages.
- Turn on View posts by category and Automatically delete one-time passwords.
Do you want bubbles?
Bubbles are enabled by default when you first set up your Android device and Google Messages. This shows active chats as persistent bubbles overlaid on whatever app you’re using. Some choose to turn them off because they take up space in other apps and can be disruptive. Also, they can become persistent and appear even after you release them.
If you want to keep them, that’s perfectly fine, because they have value to some. In any case, here’s how you can handle Google’s message bubbles:
- Open Google Messages.
- Tap yours profile picture and tap Notification settings.
- Tap it Bubbles.
- Choose whether to allow bubbles under certain conditions or disable them completely.
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Turn on voice transcription
Voice messages are very often useful, but they can be frustrating if the receiving party cannot hear them accurately. Fortunately, Google Messages can automatically transcribe those voice messages. This makes it easier for both the sender and receiver, so one doesn’t have to worry about typing and the other doesn’t have to put headphones in a crowded space.
- Open Google Messages.
- Tap yours profile picture and tap Notification settings.
- Choose Transcription of voice messages.
- Enable the feature.
Note: Messages are transcribed locally and sensitive data is not sent over the Internet.
Enable suggestions in chat
Google Notifications offers are actually a subset of several optional features that fall under a single category. These features will work when Google Messages decides that more information is needed in the conversation. For example, if you mention your location, Google Messages will offer to send your current location. These AI-based tools are very useful because we often forget that there are certain functions hidden behind many options.
Suggestions come in several forms: smart replies, suggested actions, suggested stickers, and nudges. Smart replies will give you an easy and short reply that you can send if you don’t want to type. Suggested actions can take the form of location sharing, event creation, and even a suggested GIF search.
- Open Google Messages.
- Tap yours profile picture and tap Notification settings.
- Tap it Offers.
- Turn on the type of offers you want to be ingifted.
Change swipe actions
Swipe actions are very useful in many messaging apps. Gmail was one of the first to include it, and many more apps have followed since. With Google Messages, you can set two swipe actions: archive and delete. We wish there was a “Mark as read/unread” option, although it’s not yet available in Google Messages. Also, you can simply disable swipe actions.
- Open Google Messages.
- Tap yours profile picture and tap Notification settings.
- Hit it Swipe actions and tap to choose what each direction does Apply.
Turn on iPhone reactions
Although the iPhone doesn’t use RCS messages, Google Messages can translate the iPhone’s reactions into emojis. For example, if an iPhone user responded to your message with a laughing crying emoji instead of sending “[user] reacted with [emoji] to [message]”, you’ll see the actual emoji without the unnecessary paragraph describing what happened.
- Open Google Messages.
- Tap yours profile picture and tap Notification settings.
- Find and tap Advanced.
- Turn on Show iPhone reactions as emojis.
Linking web applications
Although you can’t necessarily set it up in the app, Google Messages offers the ability to use the app on the web. This allows you to send messages from your computer using your phone number, which will make it easier for some people to check and send messages.
- On the web, go to messages.google.com.
- Open it Google’s messaging app on your phone and tap menu button in the upper left corner.
- Hit it Device pairing and tap QR code scanner.
- Scan the QR code displayed online.
From there, you can send and receive messages from your web browser. Of course, you’ll need an internet connection to your phone and computer for this to work and for your messages to update.
Overall, there are a few options that are definitely worth trying out and setting up with Google Messages. The RCS app has easily become one of our favorite messaging apps on almost any Android phone, especially the Pixel series.
More about Google Messages:
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