GoKawiilJoe Maring / Android Authority
Samsung Messages is shutting down in a matter of weeks. Starting in July, the app will no longer be supported, and Samsung will push users to switch to Google Messages instead. As it turns out, Samsung Messages has a lot of dedicated fans among Android Authority‘s readership, and you’ve all been vocal in our comments about the features Samsung’s app offers that Google’s doesn’t.
Google Messages has been adding impactful new features pretty frequently lately — a new trash folder last month, real-time location sharing weeks earlier — but there’s still plenty the app can’t do. Here are five Samsung Messages features Android Authority‘s commenters say they’ll miss most once the app winds down.
What will you miss most about Samsung Messages? 129 votes Chat theme customization options. 29 % Chat organization features (folders). 17 % 'Alert when phone picked up' feature support. 13 % The option to automatically delete old texts. 14 % Meaningful competition for Google Messages. 21 % Something else (leave a comment). 5 %
Chat customization
Joe Maring / Android Authority
Samsung Messages lets users customize their chats extensively, with options to manually choose chat colors and even set images as chat backgrounds. This feature has come up in the comments of practically every Android Authority post that mentions Samsung Messages’ upcoming shutdown.
Google Messages doesn’t offer the same level of customization. You can edit chat colors, but as of now, that’s it. Fortunately, we’ve spotted evidence in Google Messages’ code that customized chat backgrounds are in the works: strings in a recent beta build of Google’s app reference custom themes multiple times, including one that specifically mentions custom theme backgrounds.
That was a few weeks ago, so it’s entirely possible we could see chat customization in Google Messages on par with what Samsung Messages offers by the time users are forced to make the switch. With any luck, custom themes will transfer along with the message content, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Chat organization
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