Joe Maring / Android Authority
TL;DR
Google is testing a new chat feature in Messages, which will let you discuss new features with a chatbot.
The feature combines regular feature updates with a chat interface where you can delve deeper.
You should also be able to Unsubscribe if you don’t find the alerts useful.
Have you ever found it difficult or overwhelming to keep up with new app features? Even as professional seekers of novelty in apps and services, we, at Android Authority, can’t always keep up with everything. And so it’s nice when companies make the effort to publicize new changes, and that’s what Google plans to do with Google Messages, too. Just better.
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While Google frequently shares emails about what’s new in Android — and lets Pixel users specifically discover what’s new in each monthly Drop, we don’t quite get updates on individual apps, such as Google Messages. To fix that, Google is testing a new “official chat,” not just a broadcast channel, where you can chat about the messenger’s latest features.
Hidden under the code of the recent Google Messages open beta version, we’ve spotted references to the official chat. We were also able to work our way through to activating it to give you a preview.
Essentially, the feature will first appear as a card at the top of the messages list for users, giving them the option to either “Accept” or “Reject” the invitation to join the chat. If they choose the former, a new RCS chat will be initiated where they can communicate with the chatbot, presumably an AI-powered one, to know about new features. While it doesn’t immediately share news about anything new or exciting, we anticipate messages coming when the feature goes online officially.
Unlike standard update channels from companies that bulldoze you with information, Google will let you ask relevant questions, and hopefully also answer them to your satisfaction. If at some point in the future you no longer find the chat useful, you will also have the option to Unsubscribe.
Finally, Google is likely to limit this to features and updates in Google Messages, but as we experience with other apps, there’s a possibility of a crossover where other Google apps and services are also promoted here. What would be truly nice is for Google to also incorporate customer support, though that’s merely wishful thinking.
⚠️ An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release.
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