Google Messages Users, Tell Us How You Really Feel

Having made the switch back to Android after quite a bit of time with an iPhone, I have my own feelings about the texting experience on Android vs. iOS. iMessage is the superior platform and it’s not exactly close, but what about the differing experience solely between Android messaging clients?

A user on reddit recently took an opportunity to do a bit of venting on Google Messages. It starts by subverting my expectations, leading me to initially believe that after they used Messages for a bit, they began to enjoy it. Boy, was I mistaken. They really don’t like Google Messages.

It’s been a week with Google Messages and at first I hated it, but now… I completely frigging loathe it. I can’t freaking believe how unbelievably bad it is. It’s almost comical.

Every step around every corner is just sheer frustration. I don’t understand who designed this, who tested this, and who thought any of it was good design.

And thankfully, the user provides a handy checklist of the things they dislike after having been forced to migrate to the service from Samsung Messages. Here’s a summarized overview of the complaints.

• No favorite contacts
• Sending same message to multiple contacts (not a group chat)
• Inability to highlight specific portions of messages
• Attachments
• Incoming message notifications
• Customiziations

I’ll admit, I was a bit surprised to see how many people agreed. There are now nearly 200 comments with people who share varying frustrations, though, a few users tried to offer help in the form of pointing out certain settings to correct behaviors of the app. Regardless, there is apparently no shortage of folks who think Google can provide a much better experience than what is currently provided.

On a personal note, the attachments issue is so real. If you hit the gallery icon, it pops up a camera viewfinder and a gallery below it. That is bad design. Instead, to skip the camera opening, you hit the “+” button and then hit Gallery. It’s annoying.

With such an influx of users, since Samsung Messages forced the migration, we would love to see Google invest a few more folks into making Google Messages the truly best Android messaging client. It has a long way to go, but I will say that it has taken big steps in recent history. It’s no iMessage, but it’s definitely better than Google Voice.

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