You can send and receive text messages with friends and contacts on Google Messages.
Important: Some of these steps only work on Android 6.0 and up. Learn how to check your Android version.
Start a conversation
- Open Google Messages .
- Tap Start chat.
- In "To," enter the names, phone numbers, or email addresses that you'd like to message. You can also pick from your top contacts or your whole contact list.
Send a message
- Tap the message box.
- Enter your message. If you'd like to save it as a draft and go back, tap Back .
- When you’re done, tap Send .
Tip: Learn how to share contacts in your messages.
Send a voice message
- Tap the message box.
- Tap the Microphone .
- Record your voice message.
- The voice message is automatically saved as a draft so you can listen to it before you send it.
- The voice message isn't sent until you tap Send .
- Tap Send .
Read voice message transcripts
Important: If you turn on Live Captions, transcription is available on web. Learn how to turn on Live Captions.When you receive a voice message, you can choose to listen to it or to read a transcript of the voice message if Live Captions are turned off.
- Open Google Messages .
- Open the chat where you received the voice message.
- At the top of the voice message recording, tap View transcript.
Forward a message
After you open a conversation, you can send it to a new contact at any time.
- Open Google Messages .
- Open a chat.
- Tap and hold a message.
- Tap More Forward.
- Choose your contact.
- Tap Send .
Read text messages
To read a message that you just got, swipe down from the top of your screen and tap New Message .
You can also open any conversation in Google Messages to read it again.
Mark messages as read & unread
- Mark all messages as read: Tap More Mark all as read.
- Mark a message as unread:
- In the conversation history, touch and hold the conversation you want to mark as unread.
- At the top, tap Mark as unread.
Play a video or recording
- To play a video or recording that you received, tap a conversation.
- Next to the video or recording, tap Play .
Call someone while in Google Messages
- To call someone, tap a conversation.
- At the top-right, tap Call .
Read archived messages
- To read archived messages, open your list of conversations.
- Tap More Archived.
Tip: Learn how to change your notification settings.