Messages: SMS & Text

Messages is a complete SMS and MMS texting app with an optional Home screen, so the people you text most are always one swipe away.

Use it purely as your text messaging app, or turn on the built-in Home screen and keep your conversations, apps and widgets in one place. Both are your choice, and you can change your mind at any time.

TEXTING THAT GETS OUT OF THE WAY
• Send and receive SMS and MMS: photos, videos, contact cards and group texts
• Dual SIM support, with a picker for which SIM to send from
• Schedule a text for later, or give yourself a few seconds to undo a send
• Archive conversations, and recover deleted ones from the bin for 30 days
• Mark read or unread, and star messages to find them again
• Fast search across conversations, links and shared places
• Blocked numbers and blocked words, so unwanted texts never reach your notifications
• Optional clean-up for one-time passcodes and old conversations
• Local backup and restore to a file that stays on your device

MADE TO LOOK LIKE YOURS
• Light, dark and system themes, with six accent colours
• Chat themes: six bubble colours, and a background from a preset or your own photo
• Font style and text size controls
• Choose what a left or right swipe does
• Home screen widget showing your recent conversations
• Choose how much a notification shows: name and message, name only, or nothing
• Mute or snooze notifications for any single conversation

TRANSLATE WITHOUT LEAVING THE CHAT
Translate a message with a tap. Translation runs on your device using downloaded language packs, so your message text is not sent anywhere to be translated.

A PRIVATE FOLDER, DESCRIBED HONESTLY
Private chat moves conversations you pick into a folder locked with a 4-digit PIN, and you can optionally set a security question in case you forget it. It hides those conversations inside this app only. They stay in Android's system message storage, so other messaging apps and system backups can still read them. This is not encryption and we do not describe it as such.

THE OPTIONAL HOME SCREEN
• A conversations page one swipe away from Home
• App grid, dock, and an app library grouped by category
• App drawer with search, sorting and adjustable columns
• Widgets, wallpapers, icon size and shape, labels on or off
• Hide apps from the drawer and set your own gestures
Becoming your Home app is optional. Android shows its own Home app picker for you to confirm, and you can switch back at any time from that same Android setting.

PERMISSIONS, AND WHY THEY ARE NEEDED
• SMS permissions and the default SMS app role: Android only allows the default SMS app to send and receive text messages, so this app asks for the role to do its core job. Without it, texting cannot work.
• Contacts, read only: to show names and photos instead of bare phone numbers. Your contacts are never edited.
• Phone state and phone numbers: to show which SIM a message will be sent from on dual SIM devices.
• Notifications: to alert you about new messages.
• Exact alarms: to send scheduled messages at the time you chose.

YOUR DATA
Your messages, drafts and settings are stored on your device. Message content is not sent to us for messaging, translation or backup, and there is no account to create or sign in to. The app does include advertising and analytics services that collect device identifiers, diagnostics and app-usage data; the privacy policy lists them.

GOOD TO KNOW
• This is an independent SMS and MMS app. It is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, Google or any device manufacturer.
• Texts go as standard SMS and MMS through your carrier, and carrier rates may apply.
• RCS features such as typing indicators and read receipts are not available to third-party apps, so they are not offered.
• The app is supported by advertising, and some screens contain ads.
• On-device translation downloads a language pack the first time you use it.

Found a bug, or want something added? Email us — we read everything.