Google has announced that the latest update to its Android Messages app lets you send and receive texts from your computer.
The new feature is being rolled out over the next week, and it works in much the same as WhatsApp Web. To get started, go to messages.android.com in your web browser where a QR code will appear. Using the Android Messages app on your phone, tap the three-dot menu and select “Messages for web” before scanning the QR code.
Before signing into the Android Messages website, you’ll also notice an option you can enable to “Remember this computer”, which is handy if you don’t want to have to sign in every time you use it.
At the time of writing, we didn’t have the option in the Android Messages app to select “Messages for Web”, so we haven’t been able to try it out for ourselves yet, but it is expected to roll out more widely over the coming weeks.
The feature is just one of five new tools Google has added to the Android Messages app, with others including the option to search for GIFs directly from the app, use Smart Reply – a feature borrowed from Gmail, and preview links directly within conversations. Finally, there’s also the option to copy verifications passwords directly from messages into the secure websites you’re trying to access.
Google announced last year it is working with the mobile industry to bring SMS into the modern day, through a universal standard called RCS (Rich Communications Services). Put simply, when RCS is available, users will have access to all the features we’ve come to expect from apps like WhatsApp Facebook Messenger and Telegram, including group chats, high-res photo sharing and read receipts.
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