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Last month, we saw that some users started receiving access to pin and highlight features in Google Messages for Android. Pinned messages allow users to stick specific conversations at the top of their message inbox for quick access, and starred messages allow you to quickly jump to specific texts containing vital information – also for quick reference. Although these two tools are similar, they serve very different purposes.
Now, both will be finally rolling out to users over the next few weeks. Soon, it’ll be easier than ever to keep tabs on important snippets of data like food orders, grocery items, and more with a star — whatever someone sends you might be too busy to toss in a Keep note. To complete the tournament release, Google has uploaded a video on its official Android Youtube channel detailing its use cases, which you can watch below. To star a message, simply press and hold on it and choose the star at the top of the conversation thread. Plus, keeping your friends and family on top of those verification code messages you always receive while trying to log into your accounts on other devices is easy with Messages pin.
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Another major rollout this week is end-to-end encryption for RCS chat. Google now allows all Android users to chat more securely. When you and the person you’re chatting with enable e2e encryption, your messages will be protected as they travel from one phone to another (see video below). It’s important to note that this will only work for one-on-one chats, not group chats. It’s great to see Google take this into its own hands with RCS as so many carriers have proven to be an obstacle to global implementation thus far.
Finally, a new feature has appeared for many users and is also being rolled out with v8.3.026 of the app – pinch to zoom to change font size! This is actually very welcome for those who don’t want to go into their phone’s settings and change display settings. Below you can see in the video from Android Police that if you pinch or spread your fingers on the screen while in a thread, the entire conversation will intelligently change its flow as the text size changes.
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Credit: Android Police
Google Messages is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with, and it continues to add features that benefit users around the world. At this rate, Google could easily have something on its hands comparable to iMessage but for Android and Chrome OS users. I know these are combative words, but you can’t deny the level of polish and attention that went into developing the app over the past year or two. Now, we just need message categories to come up and I’ll be happy!
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Picture Credit!