If you have a Samsung phone, you probably use the pre-installed Samsung Messages app to send text messages. It’s a powerful app, capable of much more than the basics of text messaging. Unknown to many, the app has many useful features that you can use.
Let’s take a look at the best features of the Samsung Messages app that you might not know about.
1. Send group text messages
You can send group text messages on any Android phone, but Samsung Messages makes it really easy. To send a group text message in Samsung Messaging, touch the compose new message button at the bottom of the screen.
Next, type the names of the people you want to include in this conversation, and continue to select them as they appear on the screen. Now compose your message and send it as you normally do.
2. Send scheduled messages
You can schedule your messages for a specific date and time instead of sending them right away. To do so, open the desired conversation, tap the button + icon and select schedule message from the messaging tools menu.
Next, set the date and time you want your message to be sent and tap Done. Now write your message and send it as you normally do. If you change your mind after scheduling a message, you can also delete, edit, or send it right away.
3. Customize chat rooms
By default, all the chat rooms in the Samsung Messages app follow the theme of your device i.e. dark mode or light mode, but you can easily customize them according to your preferences. To do so, open a conversation, tap on the three-dot menu and select Customize chat room.
Here, you can choose from a range of background colors or choose a custom image from your gallery, as well as change the opacity of the bubble and the contrast of the text. If you want this arrangement for all your conversations, touch Apply to all chat rooms. And if you change your mind later, just press Restart to remove all customizations.
4. Create conversation categories
If you’re like most people, your inbox is full of automated marketing offers. This makes it difficult to reach the people you actually want to text. With Samsung Messages, you can create conversation categories to better organize conversations between different groups of people and quickly view and reply to messages from your family, friends, and coworkers.
To add a new category:
- Tap on the three-dot menu, go to Settingsand active conversation categories if it is not already enabled.
- Tap on the + icon next to the Everybody menu on the main page.
- Name your category, such as “family” or “coworkers,” and tap Done.
- Select all the contacts you want to include in this category and touch Done.
Your new conversation category is now set up; you can always add more people. Or, to remove it, tap on the three-dot menu, go to Settings > Conversation Categories > Editselect the category and touch Delete.
Google Messages doesn’t let you create custom conversation categories, but it automatically organizes conversations into different preset categories, such as Personal, Transactions, OTP, and Offers. It is one of the best features of Google Messages against Samsung Messages.
5. View Offers, Transactions and Upcoming Events
Perhaps the best feature of Samsung Messages is how it organizes the information contained in automated messages. On the Useful Cards tab, you’ll see three menus: Next, OffersY Finance.
In the Upcoming menu, you can see all the upcoming events and alerts that you might want to attend. The Offers menu shows all the discounts and other offers of your favorite brands. And the Finance menu shows your recent bank transactions, so you can keep track of any debits or credits.
You can also set a custom notification sound for specific contacts. This way, you can immediately tell who sent you a text without even picking up your phone. This is useful for those who, for example, use the same phone for work and personal use and want to differentiate between work and personal calls.
To do this, open the desired conversation, tap on the three-dot menu at the top, select notification sound from the list of options and select the track you prefer. Do the same for any conversations you want a custom notification sound for.
7. Forward messages or add them to the Reminders app
To forward a message to other contacts, simply touch and hold the message and select Forward from the dropdown list. Then select all the contacts you want to forward this message to and touch Done.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to deal with a message right away, you can set a reminder for it. To do this, touch and hold the message and select add to reminder. The content of the message will be copied to the Samsung Reminders app and you can refer back to it later at a convenient time.
8. Add a subject line to your message
If you’re sending a formal message to a coworker, it might be a good idea to add a subject line if the message is quite long, just like you do with emails.
To add a subject line to your message, open the desired conversation, tap the + icon and select Theme from the messaging tools menu. A new row will appear where you can write the subject line. Once written, go ahead and write the body as well, and hit submit.
9. Automatically delete old messages
After a while, your inbox will inevitably become cluttered, assuming it isn’t already. With Samsung Messages, you can automatically delete old messages to make room for new ones after you reach 1,000 text messages, 100 multimedia messages, or 5,000 chats.
To enable this feature, tap on the three-dot menu, go to Settings > More settingsand active delete old messages.
10. Add custom quick replies
If you’re busy and can’t reply to a message right away, you can choose from a set of default quick responses in the Samsung Messages app, such as “I’ll talk to you soon” or “Sorry, I missed your call.” .” But what’s even more interesting is that you can also add your own custom quick replies to the list.
To do this, tap on the three-dot menu and go to Settings > More settings > Quick responses. Then enter your message (up to 200 characters) and tap the green button + icon when finished. Your message has been added to the quick reply list; to remove it, tap on the red – icon next to it.
Make Samsung messages work better for you
If you use Samsung Messages on a daily basis, you should take advantage of its features. Some aren’t even available in Google Messages, like adding conversation categories, customizing chat rooms, adding a reminder to messages, and more.
At the same time, Google Messages has many features that Samsung Messages does not. If you want to know more, you can check out our full comparison of the two apps to see which is better.