Amid the rise of third-party messaging apps, texting stays a preferred technique of messaging within the U.S. Should you personal an Android cellphone, you’ve seemingly used or heard of Google Messages, which is positioned because the default textual content messaging app for Android. It’s the fruits of Google’s lengthy historical past with a number of messaging platforms. Google has pursued smartphone corporations to make use of its Dialer and Messages apps as their default since at the least 2017 and now mandates them to make use of Google Messages because the default messaging app on all units.
In the meantime, when you’ve got been a Samsung person previously, you could have seemingly additionally recognized and skilled the Samsung Messages app, which comes preinstalled on all Samsung telephones and can’t be uninstalled. That is regardless of dropping its spot because the default messaging app on Samsung Galaxy smartphones.
Should you’ve purchased a brand new Samsung cellphone not too long ago, it’s essential to select between two messaging apps: Google Messages and Samsung Messages. Every app has its benefits, however you can’t use each concurrently. On this article, we are going to assist you to select the most effective messaging app in your Samsung smartphone by highlighting the important thing variations between Google Messages and Samsung Messages.
Google Messages vs. Samsung Messages: person interface
The person interface on Google Messages has loads of similarities with Samsung Messages, particularly by way of performance. There are, nonetheless, seen variations that you just discover from the get-go.
House display screen
The very first thing you discover on Samsung Messages is that the listing of messages begins halfway by the show as an alternative of on the high. That is in adherence to Samsung’s One UI interface, which is designed to facilitate one-handed use. The highest half of the interface shows the variety of unread messages, and you may faucet on the View button underneath this counter to take a look at a listing of solely unread messages. It’s price noting that the Google Messages app additionally makes use of the identical design the place the conversations listing begins in the course of the show — however completely on Samsung telephones.
On the house display screen, each apps group messages from the identical sender into conversations. Google Messages shows a search bar on the highest of the welcome display screen, alongside along with your Google account’s profile image, which you’ll be able to faucet to open one of many two overflow menus (the second may be opened utilizing the hamburger button on the left). Each apps have buttons on the backside proper to compose new messages.
Samsung Messages has a search button as an alternative of a devoted bar, however it works equally. Tapping both of the weather opens a devoted web page by which the search outcomes populate as you kind. Whereas Google Messages lists outcomes by conversations, Samsung Messages makes discovering texts simpler by itemizing particular person messages.
Beneath the search bar, Google Messages shows tags for mechanically sorting messages into totally different classes reminiscent of Private, Transactions, OTPs, and Presents. Samsung Messages additionally enables you to kind messages into totally different classes, however with a big disadvantage. It’s essential to create classes in Samsung Messages manually after which additionally add conversations to these classes. With automated sorting, Google Messages makes it a lot simpler than Samsung Messages to maintain your SMS inbox clear and purposefully filtered.
Google Messages enables you to archive messages by swiping over them. Just like the Gmail app on Android, you possibly can select totally different actions (between deleting and archiving) for left and proper swiping. The swipe-to-archive function is absent on Samsung Messages, which is ironic since Samsung’s Telephone app has supported actions from swiping over contact names for practically a decade.
Lastly, Google Messages enables you to select between the sunshine and darkish themes for the interface should you don’t want for it to be synchronized with the system theme. Similar to different Google apps, its Messages app additionally makes use of a darkish grey tint for the darkish mode.
In the meantime, Samsung Messages doesn’t provide the choice to decide on between gentle and darkish modes manually and mechanically synchronizes the app’s theme with the remainder of the cellphone. Samsung makes use of a dual-shade background, together with a darker shade for the empty space and a lighter shade behind the listing of messages.
Composing and replying to messages
Google Messages and Samsung Messages have comparable strategies of initiating a brand new chat. You begin by tapping the button on the backside after which select the recipient out of your contact listing — or manually enter their cellular quantity or e-mail ID (solely on Google Messages) to start a dialog.
Aside from visible distinctions, Google Messages and Samsung Messages perform equally. Apart from textual content, you possibly can ship emojis, GIFs, stickers, and voice messages on Google Messages. Apart from the usual media attachments, you possibly can ship recordsdata, contacts, and your location with Google Messages through the use of a richer messaging protocol referred to as RCS (Wealthy Communication Providers). Like Apple’s iMessage, RCS works over the web as an alternative of SMS or MMS and is, due to this fact, on the spot. The one requirement is that each the sender and the receiver will need to have RCS-enabled units. We talk about RCS options intimately beneath.
Samsung Messages affords comparable assist for attachments that may be despatched together with the messages. This consists of photographs, GIFs, movies, voice messages, emojis, and many others. Samsung additionally permits you to ship stickers in chats, however provided that you utilize its personal keyboard app. Samsung Messages has comparable options for RCS chats that allow it to ship to multimedia immediately.
Along with various attachment choices, Google Messages additionally affords “Good Replies” powered by Google Assistant. These responses are mechanically generated by AI primarily based on what it finds appropriate and seem as buttons for simple tapping.
You should utilize the template “Fast response” texts on Samsung Messages as nicely. For faster entry, you may also add customized texts to the listing of Fast responses. Nonetheless, in contrast to Google Messages, the listing of steered responses solely comprises a set of normal replies not personalized by Google Assistant. Nor does it use the corporate’s digital assistant, Bixby.
Each messaging apps let you schedule a message to be despatched sooner or later and supply direct buttons to name an individual utilizing the cellphone over Google Meet (beforehand Duo). Each apps additionally allow you to schedule messages for sending at a later time.
In case your smartphone is working Android 11 and above, conversations in Google Messages may be seen as collapsible bubbles, just like the Fb Messager Android app.
Google Messages vs. Samsung Messages: RCS chat options
RCS is a messaging protocol envisioned to be the successor to SMS and MMS. Though the usual was first described by the GSM Affiliation in 2007, it didn’t develop into commonplace till 2015 when Google purchased Jibe Cell, which used to offer back-end providers for RCS to cellular carriers.
In 2018, Google launched Chat, an RCS-backed service that may enable customers to ship and obtain wealthy multimedia reminiscent of emojis, HD movies, GIFs, and share learn receipts, and even present the opposite individual as typing in actual time. On the time, all of those options had been both restricted to web messengers like WhatsApp and iMessage. However in contrast to Apple’s iMessage, RCS was not singly owned by one firm and, due to this fact, grew to become extensively out there to be used by each provider and Android cellphone producer.
To spur the expansion of RCS, Google launched Chat options in Messages on Android in 2018 after which partnered with carriers within the U.S. to allow these Chat options on smartphones. It has additionally partnered with Samsung to allow cohesive RCS messaging throughout Samsung and different Android units.
At the moment, RCS-based messaging is extra extensively current in lots of elements of the world throughout quite a few carriers and Android units than earlier than. Nonetheless, Google Messages and Samsung Messages are nonetheless the one first-party messaging apps supporting RCS messaging. Since RCS is interoperable, it additionally works between Google Messages and Samsung Messages.
Multimedia assist
RCS equally empowers each Messages apps, including the power to share media immediately. With RCS performance turned on, you possibly can ship photographs, stickers, GIFs, emojis, audio, movies, paperwork, location, calendar entries, contacts, and voice messages throughout supported units. The present file dimension restrict is 100MB, which will not be not as spectacular as WhatsApp’s 2GB file dimension restrict, however will suffice for a big number of recordsdata.
Since RCS messages are transmitted over the web and never by your provider’s community, you possibly can ship them even with out an lively service — as long as you might be related to Wi-Fi or some other web supply. Reliance on the web ensures that RCS messages are delivered immediately.
In the meantime, Samsung Messages prompts you to pick out the media high quality whereas sharing, permitting you to avoid wasting knowledge should you’re on a metered mobile community.
Learn receipts, typing indicator, and group chats
Along with increasing assist for various file sorts, RCS permits a typing indicator and skim receipts on Google Messages and Samsung Messages. You may also get pleasure from multimedia-rich group chats with different individuals who have RCS-enabled units. Google Messages additionally permits you to react to messages with emojis, whereas Samsung Messages lacks this function.
Finish-to-end encryption
Beginning in August 2023, Google has enabled end-to-end encryption for RCS chats by Google Messages. Nonetheless, it doesn’t explicitly say whether or not encryption applies to RCS throughout the board or solely to conversations between Google Messages customers.
Learn how to activate RCS messaging on Google Messages or Samsung Messages
To get pleasure from RCS Chat options on both Google Messages or Samsung Messages, it’s essential to allow them manually. Right here’s how you can can do it:
- Go to Settings on both app
- On Google Messages, faucet RCS chats. On Samsung Messages, faucet Chat settings.
- Allow RCS chat options in both case.
Be aware: Should you use a dual-SIM cellphone, you possibly can solely allow RCS chat on the primary SIM. You might need to confirm your quantity manually if the apps don’t mechanically allow it.
Each apps additionally let you disable RCS or default to sending a message as SMS or MMS if a message can’t be despatched over the web.
Particular options in Google Messages
Aside from a substantial amount of similarities in fundamental functioning, Google Messages and Samsung Messages apps supply distinctive options not out there on the opposite. Right here’s a rundown of these distinctions.
Computerized Sorting
Google Messages affords automated sorting of messages into the next classes:
- Private, together with messages to and from different folks
- Transactions, together with alerts out of your financial institution, bank card corporations, and different providers suppliers
- OTPs or One Time Passwords used for authentication (or 2FA)
- Presents for promotional messages
For some customers, this categorization could also be restricted to solely two teams, Private and Enterprise, primarily based on location.
In Google Messages, you may also select the first class that seems whenever you open the app. You may also choose the choice to allow auto-delete for OTPs 24 hours after receiving them to cut back the muddle in your inbox.
Google Assistant-powered recommendations
Google Messages makes use of A.I. to supply an array of recommendations in messages. Apart from the Good Replies we talked about above, Google Messages suggests emoji, GIFs, and stickers which are contextual to the messages. Google says these recommendations are generated on the gadget as an alternative of being processed on the cloud, thereby staying non-public to you and others within the chat.
Aside from recommendations, Google Messages will assist you to create Calendar occasions or set reminders should you obtain a message about an occasion. This, once more, occurs fully offline and with out Google prying on you. Should you obtain a location (or a Google Maps hyperlink) in a message, Google Messages will supply a fast preview of that space on Maps and likewise let you navigate to that place. Lastly, Google Messages can present reminders for birthdays if the opposite contact has a Google account related to their quantity. Should you discover these recommendations intrusive, you possibly can flip them off from the Strategies menu contained in the app’s Settings.
Emoji responses
Emojis have develop into the extra standard strategy to route small speak, and reactions show actually helpful right here. Like WhatsApp, Instagram, iMessage, and many others., Google Messages additionally permits you to react to messages with a broad vary of emojis. These reactions are solely out there as a part of RCS-enabled chats and require others to additionally use Google Messages.
The Samsung Messages app doesn’t assist emoji reactions and can show your response as a brand new message highlighting it.
Changing media to hyperlinks
Sending media by MMS can accrue a further value, particularly should you’re not on a vast mobile plan. To stop that, Google Messages mechanically converts media shared with non-RCS customers into direct net hyperlinks, which let you open media in an online browser. For privateness, these hyperlinks are solely legitimate for 72 hours.
Desktop continuity
Google Messages permits you to view and reply to messages out of your cellphone on a pc through the use of the “System pairing” choice from the three-dot menu on the welcome display screen. Similar to on WhatsApp Net, you must open Google Messages for net in your PC browser and hyperlink up your cellphone. It should be famous that to ship or obtain messages straight from the PC, your cellphone should even be related to the web. Samsung Messages doesn’t have such a function.
You possibly can, nonetheless, use Microsoft’s Your Telephone Companion app to reflect your Android gadget to your Home windows PC’s display screen. Apart from viewing and responding to messages, you may also make calls, view and handle notifications, copy or drag and drop textual content or recordsdata throughout your cellphone and PC, entry your cellphone’s storage, and even forged the cellphone’s show onto the PC’s display screen. It should be famous that Your Telephone Companion will not be restricted to Samsung units and can be utilized with any Android gadget, together with these working Google Messages. Sadly, this is not going to be potential on a Mac with out third-party instruments like AirDroid or KDE Join.
Particular options in Samsung Messages
These are the particular options you get in Google Messages, however what about Samsung Messages? Samsung’s listing of unique options isn’t fairly as exhaustive, however there’s nonetheless some attention-grabbing stuff to take a look at.
Recycle bin
The Recycle Bin inside Samsung Messages comprises messages and conversations deleted by you within the final 30 days. If wanted, you possibly can restore these messages or depart them as they’re for automated deletion after the 30-day window. The Recycle Bin may be helpful for situations whenever you delete messages by mistake.
Chat display screen customization
One other attention-grabbing function on Samsung Messages that’s lacking on Google Messages is the power to customise a chat’s background and message bubble colours. You possibly can select a customized colour for the chat background or apply an image because the background to vary the texture of the chat altogether. The background and customized colours may be chosen for a selected dialog or utilized to all chats with a single faucet. You may also tweak the visibility of message bubbles and textual content primarily based on the wallpaper.
Shared doc overview
When utilizing Samsung Messages for a web-based RCS-based chat, you get an summary of the beforehand shared paperwork. Head to the particular dialog, faucet the three-dot button on the top-right, after which faucet Shared attachments.
Google Messages doesn’t supply an identical potential to consolidate shared media in a single place, leaving you to scroll whereas looking for a beforehand shared file, picture, or video.
Good actions
An identical to Google Messages’ steered actions, Samsung Messages will get sensible recommendations primarily based on sure triggers inside messages, reminiscent of a date or a location. Samsung Messages affords direct buttons so as to add an occasion to the calendar or navigate to a location. The recommendations, nonetheless, don’t really feel as thorough as with Google Messages.
Google Messages vs. Samsung Messages: availability and gadget assist
As talked about above, Google Messages has develop into the default SMS app for Android. You possibly can select numerous third-party apps from the Google Play Retailer, however most customers are unlikely to take that route, primarily resulting from privateness considerations and an absence of belief of third-party providers. When you’ve got purchased an Android cellphone since early 2022, it seemingly comes preloaded with the app. Nonetheless, when you’ve got an older gadget — or it doesn’t include the app preinstalled, you possibly can obtain Google Messages from the Play Retailer. No flat-out minimal necessities exist, and the app ought to work on any cellphone purchased inside the final 5 years.
Samsung Messages is unique to Samsung units and won’t work on telephones from some other model. Even should you attempt to sideload the app utilizing an APK, the set up received’t full. Should you personal a Samsung cellphone (ideally working One UI), it would include the newest app preinstalled. But when for some motive it doesn’t, you possibly can obtain Samsung Messages from the Galaxy Retailer.
Notably, RCS options on each messaging apps will depend upon assist out of your provider. Within the U.S., main suppliers, together with Verizon, AT&T, T-Cell, and Dash, assist RCS. As well as, you possibly can get pleasure from RCS with Google Fi and loads of pay as you go suppliers. At Google I/O, Hiroshi Lockheimer, senior vp, introduced that RCS has over 800 million customers worldwide — a quantity that continues to be unique of Apple customers.
Google Messages vs. Samsung Messages: Which is healthier?
The selection between Google Messages and Samsung may be overwhelming. Whereas we hope our comparability helps ease the choice, right here’s a fast recap that may assist you to decide the proper app.
Google Messages has develop into the default app for textual content messaging on Android. Regardless of being meant to work primarily for SMS-based messaging, the app additionally facilitates sharing multimedia by a contemporary protocol referred to as RCS, just like Apple’s iMessage. Alongside textual content messages, RCS permits you to ship media in actual time. It additionally helps emoji reactions to messages, in addition to an on the spot typing indicator. Apart from RCS, Google Messages mechanically organizes messages into classes that can assist you separate conversations with folks and companies. Lastly, it additionally affords sensible recommendations, reminiscent of prompts so as to add calendar occasions or reminders, powered by Google Assistant’s AI, whereas processing this knowledge fully on the gadget.
Samsung Messages additionally helps RCS-based messaging, identical to Google Messages. Along with the common media codecs in Google Messages, Samsung Messages additionally helps customized stickers and GIFs by Samsung’s AR emojis — similar to Apple’s Memoji, however arrange manually — and Bitmoji. You additionally get the choice to customise the chat display screen for particular person conversations (or ). Lastly, you possibly can retrieve by chance deleted messages by the Recycle Bin, which isn’t out there on Google Messages.
So to sum it up, Google Messages ensures a wiser expertise by AI recommendations and automated group, whereas Samsung prioritizes personalization and integrating enjoyable options reminiscent of AR stickers. You possibly can select the proper app for your self primarily based on the options you need from an excellent messaging platform.
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