Messaging in the US is a complicated conversation.
For iPhone users, its overwhelmingly iMessage.
For Android users, its a toss-up.
WhatsApp is king of the third-party options, followed by others like Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and Signal.
Lately, Google wants to change that.
Many of these changeshinge on RCS, SMS successor.
The transition isnt perfect, especially since Apple wont budge.
With this bulletin, its wipe the company is aggressively selling its messaging solution to the Android community.
The good news is theres reason to be excited.
First up is Messages new app icon.
The same goes for the Contacts and Phone app icons.
These icons will join Googles other app icons and match the theme of your phones wallpaper.
One of my favorite new features is the ability to watch YouTube videos directly in Messages.
Sure, this is one feature other chat apps have had, but its better late than never.
You wont need to switch over to the YouTube app just to watch a video your friend sent you.
Now, it goes both ways, as you canreactto SMS texts from iPhones with emojisas well.
Unfortunately, theyll still show up as afull-text reaction on the iPhone users side(i.e.
Jake liked Do you want to see a movie tonight?
), as well as for any other RCS user that happens to be in the chat.
If the chat isallRCS users, however, the emoji reactions will appear as normal.
Hopefully, Apple can at least meet Google halfway here, if not adopt RCS altogether.
Nobody wants those pedantic texts cluttering up group threads.
Youll also be able toreply to specific messages, similar to how replies work with iMessage and Messenger.
Hopefully, more airlines are added in the future.
WithVoice Message Transcription, weve come full circle.
Voice messages are a convenient halfway point between text and phone call.
Google Messages also nowintegrates with your reminders.
One key feature sure to save many of us is the ability tostar important messages.
and will suggest adding calendar entries for messages with times and/or dates.
Finally, Google would like to remind youthe Pixel Watch exists, even if reviews have beenless than stellar.
