Google Messaging just gave us the Android text messaging feature we’ve always wanted

Have you ever forgotten to send a happy birthday text message to a friend? Or did you have an idea in the middle of the night that you desperately wanted to share with your co-workers, but didn’t want to risk waking them up if the doorbell was on? The next time this happens, use Google Messaging‘new scheduling tool to choose the exact time and date when you want to send a message.

The text messaging programmer is one of the several new Google updates for your Android apps. Google recently announced updates for several of your Android apps, including Google Maps, Google Assistant and TalkBack.

Before you can schedule a message, you need to have the latest version of Google Messaging installed on your phone. Please note that this feature will not work with your phone’s standard text messaging application, only with Google Messaging. If you’re not sure how to change your default messaging app, don’t worry – the first time you open Google Messaging, you’ll be asked if you want to make the change. The easiest way to ensure that you have the latest version of Messaging is to open the Play Store app and go to My Apps and check for updates. (I have the new feature with messaging version 7.4.050.)

Next, I’ll show you how to schedule a text message, including choosing a personalized sending time and how to edit the message if you want to change anything.

How to schedule a text message with the Google Messaging app

The first time you launch the Google Messaging app and open a conversation after upgrading to the latest version, you will see a small pop-up window appear over the Send button saying that you can schedule messages. This is similar to what you see with schedule an email in Gmail.

To schedule a text, start typing your message and press and hold the Send button. I recommend choosing the scheduled time before writing the message completely, so as not to write the message and send it accidentally.

After pressing and holding Send, you will see a pop-up with pre-selected dates and times. You can follow one of these suggestions or play Choose the date and time. This will open the Android date and time selector, which allows you to customize when the message will be sent, by the minute. (Useful if you want to wish someone a happy birthday the very minute you were born.)

When you are finished setting the time, tap Save .

You can finish writing your message. You are not limited to scheduling only text messages, but you can also add photos and videos. When you’re done, tap the Submit button, which should now have a small clock icon on top of the paper plane.

Viewing, editing, or deleting a scheduled text message

A scheduled message will appear in your conversation line, however, it will have a clock next to it and a note that says Scheduled message under that. You can hide the message with one touch Scheduled message if you prefer.

To edit the message or the scheduled delivery time, touch the clock icon. A menu with three options will appear. These options are to update message, send now or delete message.

The update message will allow you to edit the text or choose a different time. Send now immediately send the message. Delete message will discard the text.

Being able to schedule a message is a feature that will certainly be useful, especially if you usually remember to send a message at an inconvenient time and end up forgetting.

Google Messaging is a powerful text messaging app that has more tricks up its sleeve, like the Google chat feature that adds Features similar to iMessage for Android. Android 12 was also recently announced, and there is a lot looking forward to when it launches later this year. Or, if you are brave enough, you can install now.