I like to be in a nostalgic state once I’m not working, particularly in issues associated to tech, however the caveat is that it’s bittersweet.
As a lot as I really like remembering the great previous days, the disappointment of not having them creeps in.
I nonetheless keep in mind my first Home windows Telephone and have largely good recollections about it. I even have fond recollections of how apps seemed in another way in these days.
It’s not that I need them again within the type they existed again then. Nevertheless, I’ve a barely nuanced opinion about how Google Messages used to do issues versus the way it does now, particularly with reminders.
Google Messages has witnessed many adjustments through the years, however not all the things obtained a superb response.
Like many Google Messages customers, I didn’t prefer it when Google eliminated the flexibility to set message reminders manually.
Google tried to do some injury management with one other characteristic that may exchange it, but it surely doesn’t really feel the identical.
Why do I nonetheless miss the flexibility to set message reminders manually on Google Messages?
I’m not a loyalist to any services or products, not to mention a selected characteristic. I used to set reminders for particular messages as a result of I wanted to, and Google Messages did it higher than all the things else.
I keep in mind utilizing it again within the day once I obtained an essential message in my inbox in the course of work.
This was my method of guaranteeing that I didn’t overlook to get again to the message and drop a reply. I additionally used it to keep away from work-related conversations till workplace hours.
It may do it in a straightforward three-step course of. First, long-press the message after which faucet the alarm clock-shaped icon within the upper-right nook. It opened a pop-up to set the time I needed Google Messages to remind me to answer. That was all there was to it.
The Google Messages app was accountable for it, and there was no dependency on any of its different providers.
After making an attempt its alternate options, I can say that self-reliance was the explanation it dealt with reminders method higher than it does proper now. It
Many customers on Reddit additionally share my ache, as they haven’t been compensated with one thing higher. My fellow victims and I had no different possibility however to accept one thing much less.
Google Messages’ alternate options to reminders aren’t sufficient
Google Messages does an incredible job of reminding me about birthdays that I’ve added to Contacts on my cellphone. Because of this I always remember to want folks near me a cheerful birthday.
It’s important to arrange Nudges in Google Messages to get birthday reminders. It additionally encompasses a toggle known as Recommend message reminders.
It’s going to remind you provided that it feels the message wants a reply or follow-up by shifting the message to the highest.
This implies you continue to have to open the app to get the reminder, whereas the flexibility to set it manually took human intervention out of the equation after it’s set.
There may be one other methodology to repair it. In the midst of 2025, Google added a sleep button in your chats on Google Messages.
Though Google didn’t formally admit it, the transfer was seen as an effort to compensate for the earlier reminder functionality. It could actually’t exchange the previous method of establishing reminders manually, both.
While you snooze a dialog on Google Messages, it pauses notifications for that particular chat for 1 hour, 8 hours, 24 hours, or All the time. You might want to specify the time whereas setting it up.
So, as an alternative of reminding me to do one thing, it reveals me the dialog later. That’s not what I need, both.
I can’t set reminders manually anymore, however I’m nonetheless loyal to it as a result of nothing works higher. I hope to see it change with future updates to the Google Messages app.
Google Messages continues to be among the finest messaging apps on Android
Google Messages is loaded with options and has a clear UI, however you’ll nonetheless discover many third-party messaging apps on the Google Play Retailer with a large consumer base.
A lot of these customers love utilizing third-party alternate options greater than they do Google Messages. A lot of my colleagues at Android Police want third-party messaging apps over Google Messages, and I perceive the rationale.
I don’t thoughts if firms supply extra, however to me, what impacts the best variety of customers is what counts.
Google strikes a superb stability between providing helpful options that most individuals can use to do issues rapidly and retaining the app easy and light-weight.
I’m not taking something away from those that supply a bigger set of options than Google Messages. Nonetheless, when it counts, Google Messages simply delivers, making it one of many greatest methods to message on Android.