Google Messages is the official Google app for SMS, MMS, and chatting via RCS. If you’re new to the app, you probably don’t know what categories are or how to turn them off.
What do you need to turn off categories in Google Messages on your Android device
Most Android devices already have an app like Google Messages installed. It’s the default messaging app on Android. The app has a fairly rich feature set and a clean user interface. These qualities make it easy to use for more people.
Google is always looking for new ways to make its apps more useful and Google Messages is no exception to the rule. Many people have long tried the feature that allows you to automatically categorize your messages so you can find exactly what you need faster. However, not all app users like this feature. That’s why Google has made it so that you can easily disable this feature if you don’t like it.
If this feature sounds familiar to you, it’s because it’s very similar to the categories in Gmail. You probably won’t find it as useful for SMS.
So, here’s how to turn off categories in Google Messages on your Android device in a few easy steps.
What is the categories feature in Google Messages
Your smartphone can be inundated with a ton of common messages from dozens of senders every day. The thing is, many of these messages may be legitimate and valuable material that you wouldn’t want to miss.
If you want to make it easier to find exactly what you’re looking for and, more importantly, weed out what you don’t need, you can use the “Messages by Category” feature in the Google Messages app, which is considered one of the best messaging apps on Android.
This feature has been in development for some time, first launching in India, but recently becoming available to users in other regions. If you dismissed the notification as soon as possible, you could find several categories at the top of the chat window, consisting of “All”, “Personal” and “Business”.
How to disable categories in Google Messages on an Android device
If you want to disable the categories feature in the Google Messages app on your Android device, you have to follow these steps:
- First of all, open the Google Messages app on your Android device.
- After that, tap on your profile icon in the top right corner of the screen.
- Then, go to the “Messages settings” menu.
- Next, find and select the “Message organization” option.
- Finally, just turn off the “View messages by category” switch.
Once you have completed these steps, you will be able to turn off the categories feature in Google Messages on your Android device.
In the settings, you will also find the option to automatically delete OTP messages. This means a one-time password, which is often used by some sites to increase security compared to a single static password. Since these messages become irrelevant a few minutes after they’re sent, it’s nice to see them automatically deleted.
Where do messages appear on Android
By default, the standard version of Android displays all messages in a drop-down bar at the top. Here you can:
- Click on the notification to go to the app that is the sender (in the case of a message from a social network or messenger you will get to the form for writing a response).
- swipe to the side, delete the notification (also an option to delete all Android messages at once is available).
In addition, many modern Android devices support displaying messages on the Lock Screen, which allows you to go to the sender app without unlocking your phone. You can also delete notifications by swiping them to the side.