10 Things You Didn’t Know You Can Do With Samsung Messages
Reading Time: 5 minutesSamsung Messages is packed with features that you might not have noticed if you only use it for basic texting. Here’s how to get more from the app.
If you own a Samsung phone, it’s likely that you use the pre-installed Samsung Messages app for texting. It’s a powerful app, capable of a lot more than just the basics of text messaging. Unknown to many, the app has a lot of useful features that you can make use of.
Let’s check out the best features of the Samsung Messages app that you might not know about.
1. Send Group Texts
You can send group texts on any Android phone, but Samsung Messages makes doing so really easy. To send a group text on Samsung Messages, tap the Compose new message button at the bottom of the screen.
Next, type the names of the people you want to include in this conversation and keep selecting them as they pop up on the screen. Now compose your message and send it like you normally do.
2. Send Scheduled Messages
You can schedule your messages for a specific date and time instead of sending them right away. To do so, open your desired conversation, tap the + icon, and select Schedule message from the messaging tools menu.
Next, set the date and time for when you want your message to go out, and tap Done. Now type out your message and send it like you normally do. If you change your mind after scheduling a message, you can also delete it, edit it, or send it right away.
3. Customize the Chat Rooms
By default, all the chat rooms in the Samsung Messages app follow your device theme, i.e. Dark mode or Light mode, but you can easily customize them according to your preference. To do so, open a conversation, tap the three-dots menu, and select Customize chat room.
Here, you can choose from a range of background colors or pick a custom image from your gallery, alongside changing the bubble opacity and text contrast. If you want this arrangement for all your conversations, tap Apply to all chat rooms. And if you later change your mind, simply hit Reset to remove all customizations.
4. Create Conversation Categories
If you’re like most people, your inbox is filled with automated marketing offers. This makes it difficult to reach people who you actually want to text. With Samsung Messages, you can create conversation categories to better organize conversations between different groups of people, and quickly see messages from and reply to your family, friends, and coworkers.
To add a new category:
- Tap the three-dots menu, go to Settings, and toggle on Conversation categories if it’s not already enabled.
- Tap the + icon beside the All menu on the main page.
- Give your category a name, such as ‘family’ or ‘coworkers,’ and tap Done.
- Select all the contacts you want to include in this category, and tap Done.
Your new conversation category is now set; you can always add more people to it. Or, to delete it, tap the three-dots menu, go to Settings > Conversation categories > Edit, select the category, and tap Delete.
Google Messages doesn’t let you create custom conversation categories, but it does automatically organize conversations into different preset categories such as Personal, Transactions, OTPs, and Offers. It’s one of the best features of Google Messages against Samsung Messages.
5. See Offers, Transactions, and Upcoming Events
Perhaps the best feature of Samsung Messages is how it organizes information contained in automated messages. In the Useful Cards tab, you’ll see three menus: Upcoming, Offers, and Finances.
In the Upcoming menu, you can see all upcoming events and alerts that you might want to attend to. The Offers menu shows all the discounts and other offers from your favorite brands. And the Finances menu shows your recent bank transactions, so you can be aware of any debits or credits.
6. Set Custom Notification Sounds for Contacts
You can also set a custom notification sound for specific contacts. This way, you can immediately tell who texted you without even picking up your phone. This is helpful for those who, for instance, use the same phone for work and personal use and want to differentiate work calls from personal calls.
To do this, open your desired conversation, tap the three-dots menu at the top, select Notification sound from the list of options, and select a track you prefer. Do the same with all the conversations for which you want a custom notification sound.
7. Forward Messages or Add Them to the Reminders App
To forward a message to other contacts, simply long-press on the message and select Forward from the drop-down list. Then, select all the contacts you want to forward this message to and tap Done.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to deal with a message right away, you can set a reminder for it. To do so, long-press the message and select Add to reminder. The content in the message will be copied into the Samsung Reminders app and you can revisit it later at your convenience.
8. Add a Subject Line to Your Message
If you’re sending a formal message to a coworker, it might be a good idea to add a subject line if the message is rather lengthy—the same way you do so for emails.
To add a subject line to your message, open your desired conversation, tap the + icon, and select Subject from the messaging tools menu. A new row will appear where you can type the subject line. Once written, go ahead and type the body too, and hit send.
9. Automatically Delete Old Messages
After some time, your inbox will inevitably get cluttered, assuming that it’s not already so. With Samsung Messages, you can automatically delete old messages to make room for new ones after reaching 1000 texts, 100 multimedia messages, or 5000 chats.
To enable this feature, tap the three-dots menu, go to Settings > More settings, and toggle on Delete old messages.
10. Add Custom Quick Responses
If you’re busy and can’t reply to a message right away, you can choose from a set of quick responses preset in the Samsung Messages app such as ‘I’ll talk to you soon’ or ‘Sorry, I missed your call.’ But what’s more interesting is that you can also add your own custom quick responses to the list.
To do this, tap the three-dots menu and go to Settings > More settings > Quick responses. Next, enter your message (up to 200 characters) and tap the green + icon when you’re done. Your message has been added to the list of quick responses; to remove it, tap the red – icon beside it.
Make Samsung Messages Work Better for You
If you use Samsung Messages on a daily basis, you should take advantage of its features. Some aren’t even available on Google Messages, such as adding conversation categories, customizing chat rooms, adding a reminder to messages, and more.
At the same time, there are a lot of features that Google Messages has that Samsung Messages doesn’t. If you’d like to know more, you can refer to our full comparison of the two apps to see which one is better.
Reference: https://www.makeuseof.com/samsung-messages-features/