Google’s SMS Apps Renamed from Messenger to Android Messages
For whatever reason,. Google offers a multitude of messaging apps including Allo, Duo, Hangouts and Messenger. Frankly it’s quite confusing for users, but Google doesn’t seem to realize that.
Actually, the company thought it would be a good idea to change the name of its native SMS app from Messenger to Android Messages, without much warning to its fan base.
Google’s former Messenger app comes pre-installed on most devices running stock Android and it some way the change does make sense. Google needs to differentiate its own offering from Facebook’s uber popular Messenger app.
Aside from the name change, the update to Google Messenger also brings a few bug fixes, stability improvements and a more intuitive sign-up for enhanced features on supported carriers. You can get it from the Google Play Store.
The change also paves the way for Google, as it prepares to unleash RCS to the masses. RCS stands for Rich Communication Services and is the next-gen messaging standard that adds features such as read receipts, active typing indicators, group chat and many other features which are available on other popular messaging platforms.
Google announced last week that several third-party OEMs like Motorola, Sony, HTC, Nokia have agreed to bundle Android Messages in their own SMS solutions, which will boost Google’s Android Messages user base to over 1 billion.