Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR Key Verifier, a feature meant to confirm messages are coming from the person you think they are, is now live in Google Messages.
The tool generates per-device QR codes that you and your contacts can scan to verify unique device keys.
Google also mentions that links in texts marked as spam are now automatically blocked.
Scams are everywhere in digital life, from phishing emails to “wrong number” texts to voicemails about nonexistent large purchases supposedly charged to your credit card. Ideally, you should be looking critically at any communication from sources you’re not familiar with, but scammers are getting sophisticated, and a little help spotting a suspicious message can go a long way. Today, Google’s highlighting a couple of recent Messages features that should help keep you (and your less savvy family members) out of hot water.
The more interesting anti-scam feature Google is calling attention to is Key Verifier. Initially announced last year and further detailed in May, Key Verifier adds an extra layer of security that helps ensure messages are actually coming from the person you think they are, rather than a bad actor who may have gained access to their phone number. Built on the Android System Key Verifier utility that appeared last year, Key Verifier assigns each Android device a unique key, which can be verified by scanning a QR code.
Don’t want to miss the best from Android Authority? Set us as a favorite source in Google Discover to never miss our latest exclusive reports, expert analysis, and much more.
to never miss our latest exclusive reports, expert analysis, and much more. You can also set us as a preferred source in Google Search by clicking the button below.
The system is a little clunky: To verify a contact’s key, you’ll need to navigate to your conversation with that contact inside Google Messages, tap their name at the top of the thread, then scroll down to Verify keys. There, you’ll see the option to scan their QR code, which they can surface by navigating to the same menu from the same shared chat on their own device. Once you’ve scanned each other’s codes, you should see an icon confirming that the keys have been verified.
Keys can lose verification status if a contact gets a new phone or swaps their SIM card, at which point you’ll have to do the scan-to-verify workflow again to re-verify. Given how involved the process is, this probably isn’t something most users will take the time to do, let alone more than once per contact. Still, if you want to be extra sure specific personal conversations aren’t compromised, Key Verifier is an added layer of security.
Google also mentions that links in messages that have been flagged as spam are no longer functional, mitigating the risk that someone may accidentally click a link in a malicious message. Clicking a link in one of these texts will display a warning. To actually use a link contained in a text flagged as spam, you’ll need to manually remove the conversation containing the text from Messages’ spam folder.
Follow