Google Messages is Google's free SMS and RCS texting app. It brings modern chat features to ordinary phone numbers, but the best parts depend on carriers, other users' setups and AI extras.
4.1 / 5
Google Messages is Google's own app for text messaging, built around your phone number. It sends ordinary SMS and MMS when it has to, and upgrades to RCS, the newer carrier standard, when both ends support it. The developer describes it as the replacement for the old text system.
In practice that means one inbox for everything. You do not ask friends to join a new service. If they are reachable by number, they are reachable here, and the app picks the best transport available.
The listing's main pitch is RCS. Over it, you get higher resolution photos and videos than MMS manages, typing indicators, and group chats that behave more like a modern messenger. The developer says this now extends to iPhone users too, which matters because mixed-platform groups were where plain texting was weakest.
Privacy is the other selling point. Chats between Google Messages users are end-to-end encrypted, according to the listing, and there is spam protection. The limit is built into the claim: encryption applies only when both people use the app, so a message that falls back to SMS gets no such protection.
There is also a layer of personalisation and AI. You can change chat bubble colours, send selfie GIFs, and use Magic Compose to get suggested wording for messages. The listing also mentions newer AI features without naming them, and warns that some features vary by market and device or require beta sign-up. Treat these as bonuses, not the reason to install.
The app is free, and the listing mentions no subscription or in-app purchase. The cost is dependence: RCS availability varies by region and carrier, and a data plan may be needed. If your carrier does not support it, you are mostly using a tidy SMS app.
Syncing to a tablet or computer, plus a Wear OS version, makes it more flexible than a bare default texting app. It is still not a social platform. If your friends and family already live in WhatsApp or Facebook's Messenger, this will not pull them over, and it does not try to.
Most Android users should keep it, and anyone using a different default texting app should try it. Those who need chat features independent of phone numbers and carriers should look elsewhere.
By Kelvin Ooi
Security and privacy editor ·
Google Messages
com.google.android.apps.messaging
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