Google Messages could be getting "Profiles" to share your information with other users

Google Messages could be getting “Profiles” to share your information with other users،

Google has reportedly been working on a profiles feature for its Messages application for several months. This feature appears to be a way for users to attach their desired name, photo, and other information to their contact card in the app.

The “Profiles” feature was spotted when tearing down an APK by 9to5Google, which helped identify more details about what it could do. According to this teardown, code was found in the latest beta version of Google Messages (v20231106_01_RC00), which describes profiles as a way for users to “choose your name and profile picture so people can recognize you.

The feature is still under development, but it appears users will be able to create a profile with their name, photo, and other information. This profile could then be shared with other Messages users, so they can easily identify each other in conversations. “Profiles” was originally spotted in January as a preferences page in Android system settings, although the toggle is not functional when enabled. This suggests that Profiles could be a standalone feature managed by Google Messages, rather than being part of RCS.

Google Messages “profiles” spotted in January | Source seeareeff on Reddit

If profiles are implemented, it is likely that they will appear at the top of conversations in Google Messages. I suppose that by tapping on a profile name or photo you could then open a profile page with more information about the user which other users could then save to the corresponding contact card.

Google has not yet announced a release date for the Profiles feature. However, given that it has been in development for several months and is now appearing in beta versions of the app, it is likely that it will be released in the near future.

Google Messages profiles have the potential to be an important new feature that would improve users’ messaging experience. It will be interesting to see how Google implements profiles and how it integrates them with other Messages features, such as RCS and group chats.