![]() ![]() Pulse is basically like a better version of Hangouts, quite frankly - at least, the SMS-specific side of the equation. (The app is developed by Luke Klinker, by the way - the same guy behind Talon and EvolveSMS and someone I profiled as part of my How I Use Android series last fall.) And, crucially, it makes it dead-simple to sync your messages and access them from any device, anytime. Why? It's intuitive, nicely designed, and simple to use right out of the box - but it also has plenty of more advanced customization options for those who want 'em. There are plenty of good messaging apps on Android, but Pulse is the one I personally use post-Hangouts, and it's what I'd recommend for most people. If you want to have your messages automatically backed up and restored on any device you use - and/or want the ability to send and receive texts from multiple devices/platforms: And that's where our next option comes into play. a tablet) or platforms (via any sort of desktop or web app). ![]() And yes, I know.)Īndroid Messages also supports the next-gen RCS messaging standard, so if/when any significant number of carriers and manufacturers gets on board with that system in the future, you'll be ready to roll.Īndroid Messages doesn't, however, back up and sync your messages so you can easily keep them when you change phones - nor does it let you access your messages from multiple devices (e.g. It's now the default messaging app for Android as a platform, and it'll get the job done without any fuss or frills. Google's new SMS-only texting app is clean, simple, and easy to use. If all you want is basic texting - and you don't care about keeping your messages backed up or available on multiple devices: So what to do? Choose your own adventure: Starting May 22nd, you'll no longer be able to use Hangouts to handle your SMS text messages - period, end of story. ![]() If this description fits you, the clock is ticking. You can find all of your Hangouts SMS and messaging conversations there by searching for the name or number of the person with whom you chatted.) Category I: People who use Hangouts for SMS with a regular carrier-connected number ( not with Google Voice or Project Fi) Beyond that, your best bet is to rely on Gmail as a way to view old Hangouts threads. You can continue to access your archives as needed within the Hangouts app - for now, at least. Google does offer a way to download all of your data out of Hangouts as a single file, but the file is formatted in a way that'll make it impossible to read and of little practical use. This is due to an apparent annoying quirk with the way Hangouts stores its data in short, Hangouts doesn't appear to store messages in the global Android SMS/MMS database, as most messaging apps do - and as a result, there's no way for other apps to import said messages in the way they normally would. (A quick heads-up: Regardless of when you make the move from Hangouts or where you go next, you're almost certainly going to have to leave your message history behind. Find the category and subcategory that applies to you, and get a move on. Below is a piece-by-piece breakdown along with my advice for each scenario. So instead, let's accept that an SMS-free Hangouts is the new reality - and let's move on to discussing what that actually means and what we should all do next.Īs it turns out, this latest pivot is pretty nuanced, so the answers really depend on your specific situation ( yuuuup). We could talk for days about the confusion and frustration caused by Google's ever-shifting vision for its mobile messaging products - but we've done that plenty before (I'm particularly proud of the time I used an imaginary conversation to drive home the point earlier this year). Unfortunately, both of those apps suffer from the same foundational problem. These days, Google is intent on converting Hangouts into an enterprise-targeted tool - and at the same time, pushing regular consumer users toward its newer Allo and Duo chat apps. ![]()
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