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 the 'To' field, enter the names, phone numbers or email addresses that you'd like to message. You can also choose from your top contacts or your whole contacts 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’ve finished, tap Send
.
Tip: Find out 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 received, 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
.
Tip: Learn how to change your notification settings.
Do more with your messages
Set a reminder for a message
Set a reminder for a message:
- Open the Messages app
.
- Go to the message for which you want to set a reminder.
- Tap and hold the message.
- Tap Reminder
.
- Choose an option.
Tip: To set up a reminder from your conversation list, tap and hold a conversation.
Get a verification code from a message
Some apps and websites send you a verification code, a security code or a one-time password to use to sign in or confirm your identity.
- Open the Messages app
.
- Open a message with a verification code.
- Click Copy {Code}.
- On the app or website, paste the code.
Tip: Google can’t view your messages or verification codes. They aren't sent to Google servers as part of this feature.
Search for messages, photos, places and more
- Open the Messages app
.
- Tap Search
.
- Enter your search terms. You can use filters to narrow your search.
Tip: To remove previews, turn off link previews in settings.
Fix problems with text messages
- There’s not enough space on my device: If you get a notification that Messages may not send or receive messages until more space is available, try these tips to free space.
- I’m getting unreadable text messages: If you have switched from a phone with visual voicemail to one without, and you get unreadable texts from your mobile operator, troubleshoot your voicemail notifications.
- I’ve switched from an iPhone to an Android phone: If you're switching from an iPhone to an Android phone, be sure to turn off iMessage.