Samsung is discontinuing its texting app, urges customers to change to Google Messages

NEW YORK — Samsung is saying goodbye to its namesake texting app, a minimum of for United States prospects.

According to an end-of-service announcement printed on the tech large’s US assist web site, Samsung Messages might be discontinued in July.

Impacted house owners of Samsung smartphones and different devices are being requested to change to Google Messages within the meantime, “to maintain a consistent messaging experience on Android.”

All Samsung Galaxy phones run on Google’s Android working system. To swap to Google Messages, Samsung’s web site provides customers directions to obtain the app from the Play Store, if not already on their cellphone, and set it because the default.

Some folks may additionally obtain an in-app notification to information them by means of the method.

Samsung says switching to Google Messages will give customers entry to updates like the newest synthetic intelligence options from Google’s Gemini — which incorporates an experimental characteristic known as “Remix” to generate pictures throughout conversations and AI-powered reply strategies — and the power to share larger high quality photographs between Android and Apple iOS units by means of RCS-enabled messages.

Users of older Android working programs (courting again to Android 11 or older) won’t be impacted by the top of Samsung Messages, the corporate famous.

To test what Android OS you may have on a Samsung system, open the settings app, click on on “software information,” and scroll to “Android version.”

Meanwhile, house owners of Samsung’s newest Galaxy 26 lineup and different newer telephones can not obtain the Samsung Messages app from the Galaxy Store in the present day.

All units will not be capable of obtain Samsung Messages after it’s formally discontinued in July, the corporate famous.

Samsung mentioned customers can test their app for the precise date when the service will go offline.

Samsung confirmed in an replace on its web site on Tuesday that this end-of-service steerage solely applies to the US market.