Over the past few years, Google has been working on improving the messaging experience on Android—from working with carriers to upgrade their networks to RCS to building new features. With Android Messages, Google has created a messaging experience that's available on multiple devices, lets you share whatever you want to share, and makes it easy to take action on your messages with Google AI. Google has started making some of these updates to the Messages app and rounded up what’s new to show how you can use these features:
Send and receive texts from your computer:
Over the next week, Google will begin rolling out Messages for web, one of its top-requested features that let you send and receive texts from your computer. To get started, select “Messages for web” in the menu of your Messages mobile app. On Messages for web, you can send stickers, emoji, and attach images in addition to sending a text.
Search for and send GIFs:
Sometimes, a GIF is worth a thousand words and conveys exactly what you mean. Now, you can tap the + button on the left hand side of the compose bar to search for GIFs for your conversation.
Use Smart Reply to respond with a tap:
Smart Reply saves you time when you’re messaging on the go by suggesting quick text or emoji responses to your messages. Once you’ve tapped a Smart Reply suggestion, it sends immediately. Smart Replies will be available in English for now, and come to more languages over time.
Preview links within your conversations:
The next time your friend sends you a link to an article or a new restaurant, you’ll have an idea of what you’re about to click on. You’ll see an inline preview of the link, directly in your conversation.
Copy one-time passwords with one tap:
Now, when you receive a message with a one-time password or code from a secure site —such as your bank—that you’re logging into, you can save time by copying that password directly from the message with a tap.
Messages for web is starting to roll out, with the rest of these features coming to the Messages app over the next week. You can try them out by updating your app to the latest version or by downloading Messages here
