# Google Messages

12 Hacker News commenters recommended Google Messages and 29 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Default Android messaging app whose RCS chats work well once activated and whose end-to-end encryption Google cannot read. Caveat: closed platform, blocks root, and activation has long been flaky.

## Why people recommend it

- RCS works well once activated (3 comments): "Google Messages has worked reasonably well for RCS so far (after a long and frustrating period where it didn't on T-Mobile)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49594323)) "it just starts working automatically and transparently" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49600185)) "And since then things have been pretty good for me." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45983520))
- End-to-end encryption Google cannot read (2 comments): "other apps advertising E2EE such as Google's Messages app don't allow the app maker to read your messages from your backups" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46838080)) "Google cannot read your E2EE messages by default, period. Not from your own backup, not from other peoples' backups." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46838260))

## What people warn about

- Blocks root access, citing RCS spec (3 comments): "they've added root detection, something mandatory if you follow the RCS payments spec" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45977248)) "Google Messages blocks root access (probably because the RCS spec says they have to)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46699884)) "Google Messages blocks root access (probably because the RCS spec says they have to" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46699541))
- RCS tied to this app (3 comments): "On android you can only use RCS in the Google Messages app and trying to build your own is explicitly blocked." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46698852)) "If you're logged into Play you're logged into Google Messages; no choice in the matter." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47203500)) "My understanding was that you have to install google messages to get RCS to work" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49000293))
- RCS activation problems persist for years (2 comments): "There have been consistent problems with activating RCS, for many years. But it does work for some/many, yes." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48572273)) "This has been a problem (for others) for years and apparently nobody knows why or how to fix it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45982178))
- Missing features and limited text selection (2 comments): "I like the Google Messages sync SMS online with Google Fi, but it is missing features." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45970609)) "Google Messages doesn't allow any text selection of content below an entire message." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46258932))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [WhatsApp](https://hackerapproved.com/p/whatsapp.md): 300 recommend
- [iMessage](https://hackerapproved.com/p/imessage.md): 100 recommend
- [Conversations XMPP client](https://hackerapproved.com/p/conversations.md): 31 recommend
- [Tether (iMessage and SMS on Linux)](https://hackerapproved.com/p/tether.md): 22 recommend
- [OpenBubbles](https://hackerapproved.com/p/openbubbles.md): 5 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Google Messages", https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-messages/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).