Send & receive text messages in Messages

You can send and receive text messages with friends and contacts on Messages.

Note: Some of these steps work only on Android 6.0 and up. Learn how to check your Android version.

Start a conversation

  1. Open the Messages app Android Messages. 
  2. Tap Compose Compose.
  3. In "To," enter the names, phone numbers, or email addresses that you'd like to message. You can also pick from your top contacts or your whole contact list.

Send a message

  1. Tap the message box.
  2. Enter your message. If you'd like to save it as a draft and go back, tap Back Back.
  3. When you’re done, tap Send Send. 

Tip: Learn how to share contacts in your messages.

Forward a message

After you open a conversation, you can send it to a new contact at any time.

  1. Open the Messages app Android Messages.
  2. Open a chat.
  3. Tap and hold a message. 
  4. Tap More and then Forward.
  5. Choose your contact.
  6. Tap Send Send.

Read text messages

To read a message that you just got, swipe down from the top of your screen and tap New Message New message.

You can also open any conversation in Messages to read it again.

  • Mark all messages as read: Tap More Moreand then Mark all as read.
  • Play a video or recording: Tap a conversation. Next to the video or recording, tap Play Play.
  • Call someone: Tap a conversation. In the top-right, tap Call Call.
  • Read archived messages: From your list of conversations, tap More More and then Archived. 

Tip: Learn how to change your notification settings.

Do more with your messages

Set reminders for your messages

To set up a reminder in a message:

  1. Open the Messages app .
  2. Go to the messages you want to set a reminder for.
  3. Press and hold the message.
  4. Tap Reminder .
  5. Choose an option.

To set up a reminder from your list of conversations:

  1. Open the Messages app .
  2. Go to the conversation you want to set a reminder for. 
  3. Press and hold the conversation. 
  4. Tap Reminder .
  5. Choose an option. 

To edit or remove a reminder:

  1. Tap Reminder  to the right of the message of conversation.
  2. To edit the reminder, choose a new time. 
  3. To delete the reminder, tap Delete. 

Copy a code in a message

Some apps and websites send you a verification code, or one-time password, to use to sign in.

To copy a code:

  1. Open the Messages app Android Messages.
  2. Open a verification code message.
  3. Click Copy "[Code]".
  4. On the app or website, paste the code.
Note: Google can’t see your messages or verification codes; they’re not sent to Google servers as part of this feature.

Search for messages, photos, places and more

  1. Open the Messages app Android Messages.
  2. Tap Search Search.
  3. Enter your search terms. You can also use the filters to narrow down your search. 

To remove the previews, turn it off in settings. 

Fix problems with text messages

Was this helpful?
How can we improve it?