You can send and receive text messages with friends and contacts on Messages.
Important: Some of these steps only work on Android 6.0 and up. Learn how to check your Android version.
Start a conversation
- Open the Messages app
.
- Tap Compose
.
- 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
- Tap the message box.
- Enter your message. If you'd like to save it as a draft and go back, tap Back
.
- When you’re done, tap 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.
- Open the Messages app
.
- Open a chat.
- Tap and hold a message.
- Tap More
Forward.
- Choose your contact.
- Tap Send
.
Read text messages
To read a message that you just got, swipe down from the top of your screen and tap New Message .
You can also open any conversation in Messages to read it again.
- Mark all messages as read: Tap More
Mark all as read.
- Play a video or recording: Tap a conversation. Next to the video or recording, tap Play
.
- Call someone: Tap a conversation. In the top-right, tap Call
.
- Read archived messages: From your list of conversations, tap More
Archived.
Tip: Learn how to change your notification settings.