I’m not sure what people with Android powered phones do when the rest of the world uses iMessage to communicate, but there might be some good news for you.
Android Messages
To keep this short and simple – Google has finally been rolling out the desktop version of Android Messages. It took long enough, honestly. Competing with Facebook Messenger, Apple iMessage, Whatsapp, surely could not have been easy. Specially after launching a couple of messaging apps which ended up failing.
Features
1. Gifs
Tapping the + button on the left of your keyboard will let you search from an extensive database of GIFs. Kinda like Facebook Messenger!
2. Smart Reply
The ability to reply with ready-made messages is a total life saver (and I mean that literally). Whether we’re driving on the highway or about to fly a plane: being able to tap a message instead of typing “Please don’t bother me, I’m busy”, could really save a lot of time.
3. Link Preview
You know how on iMessage, Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, (or basically any social media) when you send a link to someone or post it online, it sort of self loads and saves everyone some time instead of having to click on the link and realizing it isn’t worthy enough of your presence?
Android Messages lets you do exactly the same!
4. One-Time Passwords
Ok, so this one’s actually decent.
I’ve recently been testing out iOS 12 as a developer and I ran into this feature only for someone to tell me that it has existed since a while.
But, that being said: you know how when you receive a text with a verification code or a one time password, it’s up to you to copy it and paste it in the app/website, or memorize it so you can type it out?
Well.
When you receive a message with a one-time password, you can now copy it directly from the notification bar without having to go to your messages!
All fun and games, Prithvi. But how do I use this?
Right. Sorry. I need to learn how to stick to the point.
First and foremost, click on this link and download Android Messages for your phone if you don’t have it already.
2. Open on this link on your laptop and follow the instructions to pair it with your phone!
(Hint: if you’ve ever used WhatsApp Web, this should be a piece of cake for you.)
And… Um. Well.
That’s pretty much it. Enjoy, kids!
