Google has unveiled several new features that it will be bringing to the Messages app over the coming weeks. The updates improve compatibility when chatting with people on iOS, help to keep personal and business messages separate, and provide nudges so you don’t forget your friends’ birthdays and other important messages.
The Messages app uses a standard called RCS (Rich Communication Services) as a replacement for SMS and allows for modern secure conversations. Unfortunately, things don’t always go to plan when you message your iMessage-using friends but this update hopes to fix some of the issues. With the latest updates, you’ll receive actual emojis from iPhone users, additionally, videos will no longer be blurry when sent because Google is integrating Google Photos to send links, preserving a video’s clarity.
Google said that while these updates improve the experience, it needs Apple to do some of the work by joining the rest of the industry and adopting RCS. Google says by doing this, Apple will make messaging more engaging and more secure, no matter the device people are using.
Another change coming to Messages is the introduction of the Personal and Business tabs to help you separate your messages. There will also be an option to automatically delete your one-time password messages after 24 hours to help keep your inbox clean. Google said that these changes launched in India initially and that they’re now coming to the United States. Hopefully, everyone else can get this update soon.
Finally, the Messages app is introducing two types of nudges. One of the nudges will remind you to say happy birthday to your friends and family and the other will remind you to reply to messages that you could have missed or need to follow up on so that nothing important is ignored.