© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Google Messages, the default SMS and messaging app on most Android phones, has a lot of features you might not have heard about. While users prefer instant messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and others to stay in touch with one another, SMS is still one of the easiest ways to contact someone since all you need is a phone number. From getting smart suggestions to scheduling messages, here are some lesser-known Google Messages features you can try in 2024.
If you live in India, most network operators allow users to send 100 SMS per day. However, the daily limit can be easily circumvented by enabling Google’s RCS (Rich Communication Services) protocol. Since it uses mobile data, you can also send messages with more than 160 characters and even react to messages.
To turn on RCS, open Google Messages on your Android device, tap on your profile picture from the top right and click on ‘Messages Settings’. On the screen that appears, tap on ‘RCS chats’ and proceed to enable the ‘Turn on RCS chats’ toggle. Here, you will also be able to turn on advanced features like ‘Send read receipts’ and ‘Show typing indicators’.
Apple also confirmed last year that it will adopt the RCS protocol, meaning iPhone users will soon be able to text their Android friends with iMessage-like features.
The web version of Google Messages may lack certain features compared to the Android version, but it can be paired with another device like a tablet to remotely send and receive messages. You can also access messages on your phone using the web.
To pair your phone with another Android device, tap on your profile picture and select ‘Device pairing’. You can either open the Google Messages app on your other device or to ‘www.messages.google.com/web’ to initiate the pairing process.
If you want to see and send messages from your PC, simply scan the QR code that appears in your browser using the QR code scanner button in the device pairing section. However, those looking to connect to another device like a tablet will have to install the app on their other device and sign in using the same Google account they’re using on the phone.
Just like emails, Google Messages allows users to schedule messages, which can be sent at a time and date of their choice. This may not be useful for many, but if you are someone who often forgets to text, the feature can be a lifesaver.
To schedule an SMS or an RCS message in Google Messages, open the chat you want to send the text to and type in your message in the text field. Once done, long press on the send button and you will see an option called ‘Schedule send’, as can be seen in the screenshot above. Here, you can either choose from a few presets or pick the date and time you want to send the message.
Most one-time passwords, also known as OTPs have a time limit after which they expire. If your inbox is filled with these sensitive passwords that are no longer useful, manually deleting them can be daunting at times.
Thankfully, Google Messages has an option that deletes such messages after 24 hours. To enable the feature, head over to the ‘Messages settings’ section by tapping on your profile picture. Now, tap on ‘Message organisation’ and turn on the toggle named ‘Auto-delete OTPs after 24 hours’.
Ever found yourself in a situation where the other person sends you an audio message but you are unable to listen to it? Google Messages has a pretty nifty feature that transcribes audio messages, so you can easily read them and reply to them without having to play the message.
The functionality is activated by default on most phones, so if you ever get an audio message, just tap the ‘View transcript’ button that appears above it to get a text version. In case you are not seeing the option, head over to ‘Messages settings’, go to ‘Voice message transcription’ and turn on the toggle named ‘Show transcripts of voice messages’.
If you are using a phone that runs on Android 11 or later, Google Messages lets you quickly check and reply to messages using bubbles. To give you a quick recap, bubbles on Android were first adopted by Facebook Messenger, but are now adapted by select apps like Google Messages.
They eliminate the need to open Google Messages and are pretty handy if you are doing something on your phone and don’t want to switch to another app. To enable bubbles for specific contacts or everyone, tap your profile picture, head over to ‘Messages settings’ and find and tap on ‘Bubbles’. Here, you can select if you want to show bubbles for select conversations, for everyone or disable the feature altogether.
Google Messages is often updated with new useful features that can help you save time and reduce screen time. A good example of this is the Suggestions feature, which offers presets to users they can easily tap to send. The feature can be found under ‘Suggestions’ under ‘Messages settings’.
Here, you will see three options to choose from – ‘Smart Reply’, ‘Suggested actions’ and ‘Suggested stickers’. As the name suggests, the first one lets you quickly send text replies to messages. ‘Suggested actions’ integrates with other Google services like Meet, Calendar and Maps, so you can easily perform certain actions like creating an event, attaching recent photos and sharing your location.
The last one, named ‘Suggested stickers’ shows sticker reply options depending on what you say. For example, if you say good luck, it will show an animated sticker that says the same.
