Samsung has recently made a significant change to its default messaging app for Galaxy phones. The company has replaced Samsung Messages with Google Messages, aligning with other Android phone manufacturers.
According to researcher Max Weinbach, the Samsung Members app officially announced that Google Messages will now be the default messaging app on Galaxy phones. Starting with the Galaxy Z Fold6, Z Flip6, and future models, Samsung Messages will no longer be available for download. The company stated that Google Messages will provide users with a new and improved experience for expressing emotions, while also enhancing the safety and enjoyment of communication.
While older Galaxy device users can still download Samsung Messages from the Galaxy Store, the announcement indicated that certain features may be excluded. However, the company did not specify which features would be affected.
Reportedly, in Canada and Europe, Samsung Messages remains the default messaging application for the Galaxy Z Fold6 and Z Flip6 models, indicating that the change is currently limited to devices sold in the US.
This change came shortly after reports surfaced about Google messages heavily compressing images sent via the RCS protocol. Testing by Android Authority indicated that a 50 MP image with a file size of 6 MB, when sent via RCS, was reduced to 3.1 MP and 404 KB. In contrast, Samsung Messages was found to send uncompressed images via RCS. Nevertheless, Google appears to be addressing the “over-compression” issue and working on enabling the transmission of larger images via RCS in Google Messages.
Currently, it remains unclear why Samsung decided to remove Samsung Messages from the list of default installed applications in favor of Google’s messaging application.