Samsung says goodbye to its own messaging app, Google takes over

Samsung recently started informing its users that it will be dropping Samsung Messages as a pre-installed app. The Korean manufacturer wants to use Google Messages instead. The move is related to the SMS successor RCS.

RCS replaces SMS

Short messages have not played the role they did years or even decades ago. The reason for this is of course that WhatsApp and Co. have largely replaced the classic SMS. This is mainly because the Short Message Service (SMS) standard is technically many decades old. However, there is a successor called Rich Communication Services, or RCS for short, and this is being pushed primarily by Google. This also has concrete consequences for Samsung users, because like Android Authority reported, the Koreans have now started informing owners of Galaxy smartphones that they are de facto abandoning their own messaging app and replacing it with Google’s. The Galaxy Z Flip 6 and Galaxy Z Fold 6 are the first to be launched, and in the future the search engine giant’s app will be available on the device from the start.

Samsung has also officially confirmed this measure and stated:

Samsung and Google have worked closely together in many areas of the communications service. This joint effort to make Google Messages the common default messaging platform for the Android mobile ecosystem will accelerate the adoption of Rich Communication Services (RCS) and provide Galaxy users with a more robust and engaging mobile messaging experience. Samsung

Samsung Messages not quite dead

The rollout is currently limited to the USA, but this change will be extended to other countries in the coming months. The Korean company’s decision does not mean that Samsung Messages is being abandoned completely. The app can still be used and downloaded from the Galaxy Store – but it is no longer the focus of Samsung’s efforts.