Tag: SMS

There is a new update for the Android Messages app for Android rolling out in the Play Store today.  Frankly there isn’t anything very interesting about the update from a user perspective but what is in the code is quite interesting.  It appears that there is code now in the app that would allow for a Allo-like web experience for Messages.  This could allow for sending and receiving of text messages from your desktop.

The code was discovered by the team over at Android Police in a tear down of the new version of the app.  It appears that, like Allo, you will scan a QR code to sync your computer with your phone and be able to send and receive messages on both.  This feature isn’t something new.  Google Hangouts still has this feature if you are a Project Fi user and use Hangouts as your SMS app (SMS in Hangouts isn’t supported anymore outside of Fi).  Instead, it would be a return of a feature and that is a great thing.

Subscribers of Project Fi have a new feature coming to the Android Messages app for SMS and MMS.  Smart Replies is something that has been in Google Allo and Google Inbox for some time now and the feature is now rolling out to Fi subscribers.

Like Allo and Inbox, when a text message comes into your Android Messages app, you will see options for replies in three small bubbles just above the text box where you type your replies.  Backed by Google’s AI, smart replies understands the context of the message you were sent and offers quick, one tap replies to those messages.

Google Hangouts has officially dropped support of SMS for non Project Fi or Google Voice users.  The support ended yesterday and was something that had been planned since Google announced the change back in March.

The change is part of the overall strategy of Google to move their G Suite customers to the new Google Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat while leveraging Android Messages for SMS on Android devices.  For consumers, the focus is on Google Allo and Duo to meet these communications needs.

Google has sent notifications out to G Suite customers that in starting next week, a warning will show up in Google Hangouts that SMS will no longer be supported.  That support will end on May 22nd.  The notification and change is part of the overall strategy of Google to move their G Suite customers to the new Google Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat while leveraging Android Messages for SMS on Android devices.  For consumers, the focus is on Google Allo and Duo to meet these communications needs.

For those readers who are on Project Fi (I am one of them) or using Google Voice, this change does not impact you.  This change only impacts G Suite customers who are using carrier numbers to send and receive SMS messages.  This fits along with what Google told me earlier this month at the Google Next Cloud event in San Francisco.