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Apple is still a huge roadblock to the real problems that Android phones face in the US, but this move essentially makes RCS the default experience on every new Android phone sold in the US. Will this suddenly make Google’s RCS goal work in full? Not necessarily. The sad truth is that, especially in the United States, people just use whatever ships on their phone out of the box, and never venture outside of that. While I firmly believe that users should be able to choose their own messaging app based on what they want/need (but that Telegram is the best), having Google Messages and its wide RCS support as the default option is key to getting more people to understand that Android phones do have access to a modern messaging experience. This is a wonderful development for the Android ecosystem as a whole. Samsung Messages is still installed on the phone by default, but users have to actively choose to switch to that app. These may be adjusted in Messages > New Push > Platform Settings > Google Android Options or as defaults in your manifest. (The status bar icon color will still be unaffected). Setting up the phone from scratch without restoring a backup, Google Messages is indeed the default SMS/MMS app on the Galaxy S22, even taking up the homescreen slot for a messaging app in Samsung’s default layout. Android 5.0+ enforces your icon to only be white and transparent however it still allows tinting on the notification shown in the shade, known as the 'accent color'. Now, Google Messages is the default messaging app on Samsung Galaxy smartphones in the United States, starting on the Galaxy S22 series.įriend-of-the-site Zachary Kew-Denniss highlighted a segment from MKBHD’s Waveform podcast this might be the case on US variants of the Galaxy S22 series, and we’ve since confirmed as much on a US review unit of the Galaxy S22+. That started to change last year, as the Galaxy S21 series (and later Galaxy Z Flip 3 and Fold 3) shipped with Google Messages as the default messaging app in Europe and other regions. Rather, Samsung favored its own “Samsung Messages” app to handle SMS, MMS, and RCS in some limited cases.
#Android messages icon how to#
Google Messages has always been available to Samsung owners, but the app was not pre-installed. Heres how to turn text message notifications for your Android smartphone on or off via the Messaging app. With Google Messages bringing enhanced RCS messaging to virtually any Android user that wants it, there’s finally a “default.” Now, RCS is getting a big boost as Samsung has finally adopted Google Messages as its default app in the United States. Messaging on Android has been a mess for years, but the tide is finally changing.
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