Google Messages has added a slew of new features in recent weeks, but some users are currently missing existing ones — message reminders and uploading video via Google Photos — in what’s hopefully a bug rather than permanent removals.
Back in 2019, Google added the ability to long press on a message to set a reminder with several preset increments or launch a full date and time picker. Some users, including several beta instances that we checked today, no longer have the alarm clock icon in the toolbar.
However, those missing this follow-up option still have the “Remind 1 hr” shortcut in incoming notifications, as well as the Google Messages settings toggle related to that.
Meanwhile, some users are also missing the Google Photos integration that lets you upload videos to the cloud and send them as links to avoid the low-quality nature of SMS/MMS. Introduced in 2022, the settings page is entirely missing.
Both of these removals seem accidental rather than intentional. It makes no sense to remove reminders only in one place, while it’s surely a simple and popular feature. The Google Photos feature is still a good idea for both the messaging and backup service. (At one point, Google also supported image upload for an even deeper integration that would allow you to centralize sharing.) While RCS allows for higher quality media, Photos lets you share with full fidelity.
These regressions are more likely to be bugs compared to how the homescreen redesign removed message organization, which some users continue to miss.
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