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There’s a deadline coming up for Samsung Messages, and it’s closer than most people realize. The app will stop working for US users in July 2026, and unlike many software transformations, this one doesn’t offer much of a grace period, and when it expires, access to any unmigrated text history goes with it. Moving into Google Messages is the natural destination, and Samsung has made the process relatively painless for those who start early. The mistake would be to treat this as a low-priority item and discover in July that years of talks had not worked the trip.
On a page containing information about the switchSamsung points out instructions on how to switch to the Google Messages app, including on phones still running Android 12 and Android 13. Samsung has historically included its own Messages app on Galaxy phones, but it is starting to move towards Google Messages. Early 2021.
To encourage people to switch to Google Messages, Samsung’s Help menu includes new features offered by Google Messages, such as text messaging that supports RCS for features like typing indicators, easier group chats, and sending high-quality photos. Google Messages also has spam detection, AI-powered spam filters, access to messages across multiple devices, and some built-in Gemini AI features. It’s also the app that most Android phones use as their default texting app, including the latest Samsung phones Galaxy S26. There are other alternatives to SMS apps in the Google Play Store if you don’t want to use the app created by Google.
Samsung hasn’t said exactly when in July messaging in the app will no longer work. A Samsung representative did not respond to a request for comment. Once the app is deactivated, messaging to emergency services will only work on Samsung messages.
Although Samsung stopped listing it as the default texting app in 2021, that won’t happen until 2024. Samsung has stopped pre-installing the text messaging app Next to Google messages. The Galaxy S26 can’t download the Samsung Messages app, and other phones won’t be able to download it after the app expires in July.
Samsung said users with Android 11 or lower are not affected by the end of service, but would also likely benefit from switching to a supported text messaging app like Google Messages. To switch to Google Messages, the company is asking users to do so Download the app If it is not already installed and set it as the default SMS app when prompted after launching it.
The post also notes that anyone using an older Galaxy Watch running Samsung’s Tizen operating system will no longer have access to their full chat history since those watches can’t use Google Messages. Samsung said it will still be able to read and send text messages, but the company’s newer watches (Galaxy Watch 4 and later) running WearOS will still be able to access full conversations.
