The Android operating system is all about customization and user choice, but if you own a Samsung Galaxy phone, you're getting ready to have one less option for texting your friends and family. Samsung recently announced that the official Samsung Messages app is shutting down this summer, and you will need to migrate to an alternative by the deadline.
Phasing out Samsung Messages
Although Google offers its core apps (colloquially known as GApps) on most Android devices for free, Samsung also has its own versions that come preloaded on its Galaxy phone lineup. One of those apps is Samsung Messages.
Samsung didn’t explicitly reveal why it is closing down its messaging app.
Billed as a simple text messaging app, Samsung Messages has long been the place where Galaxy owners send SMS and MMS to friends, family, co-workers, and anyone else with a phone number. That all changed in 2021 with the launch of the Galaxy S21 series. Those were the first phones in Samsung’s lineup to trade Samsung Messages for Google Messages, leading to all subsequent models launching with Google as the default texting option.
This year, Samsung is finally closing the loop, as it plans to shut down Samsung Messages entirely in favor of Google Messages, with a vague end-of-service deadline set for July 2026.
The end of Samsung Messages is a net benefit for users
Although it might be a pain for some users who have still hung on to the aging messages app, the shutdown and migration to Google Messages are actually a good thing. As we covered earlier this year, Google Messages is one of the only text messaging apps on Android that supports Rich Communication Services, the new texting gold standard that replaced SMS and MMS.
In case you need a quick refresher: RCS is better than antiquated texting tech because it offers end-to-end encryption for increased security between Android users (with iPhone encryption coming soon), cross-platform read receipts, improved group messaging features, and support for higher-res media files.
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All in all, RCS is simply better, and since Samsung Messages doesn’t support it, Google’s version seems like a no-brainer.
How to set Google Messages as your default messaging app
Whether you still use Samsung Messages as your daily texting app or you’re not sure which app is set as your default, here’s how to check your settings to ensure that Google Messages is set up correctly:
- Make sure Google Messages is downloaded and installed on your device. You can grab the app from the Google Play Store if you need it.
- Open the Settings app on your Samsung Galaxy device.
- Scroll down and tap “Apps” near the bottom of the page.
- Select “Choose default apps” at the top.
- Tap “SMS app.”
- Make sure the Google Messages app — the one with a blue messages icon and a white background — is selected.
Some caveats to consider
Before you do anything else, there are a few caveats to the shutdown that you should know:
- Users on older Galaxy devices running Android 11 or lower will not be impacted by the switch. You can continue to use the same text messaging app unabated.
- Users on Android 12 or 13 may need to manually change the Messages app on their dock from Samsung Messages to Google Messages once the switch is complete. Everyone else will see Google Messages in their dock automatically once the switch is made.
- Samsung Messages will still be accessible and functional for emergency use for all users, even after the shutdown window has closed.
Samsung didn’t explicitly reveal why it is closing down its first-party text messaging app after all these years. However, there are a couple of possible reasons for the switch.
First is RCS support. Google doesn’t necessarily own the technology behind this new messaging standard, but it has championed the solution since bringing it to Android in 2019. More importantly, Google’s acquisition of Jibe Mobile in 2015 — an RCS company — gave it the foundation to sidestep carriers that drag their feet on enabling RCS support, in the same way that Apple subverted carriers with its own iMessage service on iOS. Through Google Messages, Google can control RCS features and adoption throughout the entire Android ecosystem and ensure a consistent experience across devices.
Second, Samsung and Google have grown closer in their partnership over the years, working together on huge projects like the Wear OS reboot in 2021, as well as the Samsung Galaxy XR headset that launched late last year. The switch to Google Messages is just another example of the companies collaborating to centralize and strengthen the Android ecosystem amid the growing threat that is Apple.
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