Google Messages, the default messaging app for many Android users, recently lost two key features: message reminders and Google Photos integration. These removals have led to confusion and frustration among users, who hope the features are just bugs and not intentional changes.
As reported
9to5Google, some users – both on stable and beta versions of the app – reported that the alarm clock icon, used to set message reminders, was no longer visible in the toolbar when selecting of a message. Although the “Remind 1 hour” shortcut in incoming notifications still works, the full reminder functionality seems to be missing. This is a strange occurrence considering the feature was introduced in 2019 and has since become a popular feature among users. Additionally,
Google Photos integration that allows users to upload videos to the cloud and send them as links is also missing. This feature was especially useful for sharing high-quality videos without the limitations of SMS/MMS. However, this feature is now completely missing from the Messages app settings, when it would normally appear just above the aforementioned “Remind 1 hour” setting.
Current status of Google Messages, missing alarm clock icon for Google Photos reminders and settings
The removal of these features has led many users to believe that these were intentional decisions by Google. However, these are more likely to be bugs or glitches rather than planned changes, likely due to recently planned and currently testing upgrades such as noise removal and support markdown text.
Selectively removing reminders and completely disappearing Google Photos integration are likely not permanent or deliberate actions given the popularity and usefulness of these features. However, it is important to note that this is not the first time that a useful feature has disappeared from the Messages app, as was the case with the “Show messages by category” feature which filtered personal messages from professional messages.
Google has not yet fixed the missing features in Google Messages. Hopefully, the company will quickly resolve these issues and restore the features users rely on as soon as possible.
