12 tricks for more efficient Android texting
No matter what type of Android phone you carry or how you usually use it, one thing is a near-universal constant:
You’re gonna spend a ton of time messing with messages.
The messages may be from clients, colleagues, or your cousin Crissy from Cleveland (damn it, Crissy!). But regardless of who sends ’em or what they’re about, they’re all poppin’ up on your phone and cluttering your weary brainspace.
My fellow Android adventurer, I’m here to tell you there’s a better way.
Google’s Android Messages app has gotten surprisingly good over the years. That’s no big secret. If you only rely on what you see on the surface, though, you’re missing out on some of Messages’ most powerful and underappreciated efficiency-enhancing options.
Today, we’ll unearth some of Messages’ most effective step-savers. They may not be able to cut down on the number of messages you send and receive on your phone (DAMN IT, CRISSY!), but they will help you spend less time fussing with ’em. And they might just help you have a more pleasant experience, too.
Let’s dive in, shall we?
(Before you splash forward, take note: The tips on this page are all specific to the Google Messages app for Android. If you’re using a phone where that exact app wasn’t preinstalled or set as the default, you can download it from the Play Store and give it a whirl. You might be pleasantly surprised by what you find.)
[P.S. Want even more advanced Android knowledge? Check out my free Android Shortcut Supercourse to learn tons of time-saving tricks — for messaging and beyond!]
Android Messages trick #1: Smarter shortcuts
If I had to pick the simplest Android Messages trick for enhancing your efficiency, it’d be embracing the built-in shortcuts Google gives us for faster message actions.
And goodness gracious, have we got a gaggle of ’em to learn and remember — so many, in fact, that I just recently put together an entire guide dedicated to that one specific subject.
A few standouts worth calling out here, though:
You can swipe to the right on any individual message within a thread to reply directly to it — which essentially quotes and repeats the original message above whatever you write for context.
You can swipe to the left on any message to see the timestamp showing exactly when it was sent.
And you can tap on any message you’ve sent within a conversation (where everyone is using the current RCS messaging standard) to see if the text has been read.
From the main Messages screen, meanwhile, you can swipe left or right on any message to perform an instant action — archiving the conversation, deleting it, or toggling it between read and unread status.
All you’ve gotta do is mosey your way back into the Messages app’s settings areas and tap on the “Swipe actions” item to set things up the way you want…
>
Step-saving swipes within Messages — now available for your customization.
…and then, just remember to actually use those gestures moving forward. (That part’s on you.)
Android Messages trick #2: Instant access
Outside of the actual Google Messages app, you can create your own custom shortcuts for accessing especially important threads directly from your home screen — without ever having to open up the app directly or wade through it to find what you need.
For any conversations you find yourself looking at often, it’s an incredibly handy way to save steps and get to where you’re going more quickly. And it’s incredibly easy to do, too, once you know the trick:
From your Android device’s home screen or app drawer, press and hold your finger onto the Messages icon.
That should pull up a pop-up showing your three most recent active conversations.
You can then tap any of ’em to open it directly or press and hold any of the conversations to drag it directly onto your home screen for easy ongoing access.
Alternatively, you can also use the built-in widgets within the Google Contacts app to achieve something similar for any conversation with any contact on your phone.
Android Messages trick #3: Contact prioritizing
While we’re thinking about making certain conversations stand out, ever wish you could keep your most important messaging threads at the top of the list for easy ongoing access?
Poof: Wish granted. No matter what kind of Android phone you’re holding or how needlessly meddled with its software may be, just hold your finger onto the conversation in question on the main Messages app screen, then tap the pushpin-shaped icon in the app’s upper bar.
You can now pin up to 20 conversations that way, and they’ll always appear above all other threads in that main inbox view.
Android Messages trick #4: Calendar connection
The next time you’re working to plan a meeting or event with a fellow Homo sapien in Messages, make yourself a mental note of this:
Anytime someone sends you a message that includes a specific date and time, the Messages app will underline that text. See it?
That underlined time is a covert link from an incoming message to your Android calendar agenda.JR Raphael, IDG
You’d be forgiven for failing to realize, but you can actually tap that underlined text to reveal a shortcut for opening that very same day and time in your Android calendar app of choice. It’s a great way to get a quick ‘n’ easy glimpse at your availability for the time you’re discussing.
And if you then want to create a calendar event, just look for the “Create event” command that should appear right below that very same message. That’ll fire up a new calendar event for you on the spot, with the appropriate day and time already filled in.
That button to the left of the text suggestions is a spectacular time-saver for on-the-fly event creation.JR Raphael, IDG
Don’tcha just love simple step-savers?
Android Messages trick #5: Seamless scheduling
If you’re ready to hammer out a response to a message right now but don’t want your reply to be sent for a while, follow the advice shared by a reader in my Android Intelligence newsletter recently and simply schedule your message for some specific future time.
The Android Messages app’s scheduling system is spectacularly useful. You can rely on it for setting reminders to be sent to clients, business-related messages to be pushed out the next morning, or context-free middle-finger emojis to be delivered to your cousin in Cleveland at ungodly hours in the middle of the night.
To tap into this productivity-boosting power, just type out your message normally — but then, instead of tapping the triangle-shaped send icon at the right of the composing window, press and hold your finger onto that same button when you’re done.
No reasonably sane person would possibly realize it, but that’ll pull up a hidden menu for selecting precisely when your message should be sent.
Send any message, anytime — no matter when you actually write it.JR Raphael, IDG
And the person on the other end will have no way of even knowing you wrote the thing in advance.
Android Messages trick #6: Swift saving
When you run into a message you know you’ll want to reference again, save yourself the trouble of trying to dig it back up later and instead star it on the spot to make it fast as can be to find in the future.
Once again, it couldn’t be much easier — once you know where to look: Whilst viewing an individual message thread, just press and hold your finger onto the specific message you want to save, then tap the star-shaped icon that appears in the pop-up menu alongside it.
Then, when you want to find the message again, tap the search icon at the top of the main Messages screen and select “Starred” from the menu that comes up. That’ll show you every message you’ve starred for exceptionally effortless resurfacing.
Android Messages trick #7: Smart searching
Speaking of that Messages search system: Starring is sublime, but sometimes, you need to dig up an old message that you didn’t go out of your way to save.
The Android Messages app makes that even easier than you might realize. Tap that same search icon at the top of the app’s main screen — and in addition to searching your entire history message for any specific string of text, take note:
You can start typing out the name of anyone in your contacts, then select them from the suggestion that appears — and then type in some text to look for something specific only within messages from that one person.
You can use the options within the main Messages search screen to look specifically at images, videos, locations, or links people have sent you.
And you can combine any of those variables for even more granular finding — looking for links you sent to a particular client, for instance, or locations an out-of-town colleague sent to you.
The Android Messages app’s search system is chock-full of helpful info.JR Raphael, IDG
How ’bout them apples?!
Android Messages trick #8: Instant marking
I don’t know about you, but I find it impossibly irksome to see messages sitting with bold emphasis in my Android Messages inbox. That, to me, is a marking that means I need to read (and possibly also respond) to the message in question. And I can’t possibly rest for the day until I know that everything in my Messages inbox is open, addressed, and dealt with (or at least opened and with a reminder set to deal with it at some specific future time).
Sometimes, though, it’s all too easy to fall behind and get a backlog of bolded messages — and in such scenarios, one could really use a quick ‘n’ easy one-switch reset button to bring everything back to read status and give yourself a fresh start.
Well, surprise: Messages has such an option! Tap your profile picture in the app’s upper-right corner and look for “Mark all as read” in the menu that comes up to find it — then let yourself rest easy as all that attention-demanding boldness melts away once and for all.
Android Messages trick #9: Quicker cleanup
Certain services love to send confirmation codes via text messaging when you sign in or try to perform some action. It may not be the most advisable or effective form of extra security, but — well, it’s better than nothing. And for better or for worse, it’s a pretty common tactic.
Core security considerations aside, the most maddening part of these confirmation codes is having ’em clutter up your messages list at every Goog-forsaken moment. But the Google-made Android Messages app can actually take care of that for you, without any ongoing effort — if you take about 20 seconds to make the right tweak now.
Here’s the secret:
Tappity-tap that comely character in the upper-right corner of the main Messages screen (y’know, the one whose appearance has a striking resemblance to your oversized head).
Tap “Messages settings” in the menu that comes up, then select “Messages organization.”
Within that curiously created section, you’ll see only one option: “Auto-delete OTP messages after 24 hours.” OTP may not exactly be an everyday, universally known abbreviation, but fear not — for it isn’t an erroneous reference to an early 90s rap hit with equally ambiguous meaning. Nope: It stands for one-time password, which is the same thing we’re thinking about here.
Flip that toggle into the on and active position, then flip a finger of your choice to all the confirmation codes in your messages list with the knowledge that they’ll be auto-purged a day after their arrival from that point forward.
Who’s down with OTP? Every last homie. (I apologize.)
Android Messages trick #10: A voice message time-saver
In an amusingly full-circle progression, people for some reason seem to love sending voice messages within texting conversations these days. If you’re anything like me, though, you might not so much adore listening to said messages instead of simply reading what the other person wants to tell you.
Google Messages has a solution: Head back into the app’s settings — by tapping your profile photo in the upper-right corner of the main screen and then selecting “Messages settings” — and then look for the line labeled “Voice message transcription.”
Tap it, and make sure the toggle next to “Show transcripts of voice messages” is in the on and active position.
The next time someone sends you a voice message, you’ll see a plain text transcription of their words right alongside the audio player.
Yes, please — and thank you.
Android Messages trick #11: Readable reactions
Speaking of brevity, Slack-style reactions may seem silly on the surface, but they serve an important communication purpose in allowing you to quickly acknowledge a message without having to carry the conversation on further. Whether it’s a thumbs-up, a clapping hands symbol, or even perhaps an occasional burrito emoji, it really can be a handy way to say “Yup, got it” (or “Yup, want beefy goodness”) without having to use a single word.
You probably know you can summon a reaction within the Android Messages app by pressing and holding a specific message within a conversation and then selecting from the list of available emoji options — right? But beyond that, Messages packs an even faster way to issue a reaction in the blink of an eye.
And here it is: Simply double-tap your finger onto any individual message within a conversation. That’ll apply the thumbs-up reaction to it without the need for any long-press or symbol selection.
It’d be nice if there were a way to customize which reaction is used for that action by default — so that, obviously, we could all change it to the burrito emoji, since that’s what any sane person uses most often — but if and when an upward thumb will do the job, now you’ve got a super-easy way to bring it into any conversation with a fast finger tap.
Android Messages trick #12: iRritation elimination
Last but not least in our list of magnificent Messages enhancements is something specific for your conversations with the Apple-adoring animals in your life. And it relates to those very same sorts of reactions we were just going over.
One obnoxious side effect of Apple’s “no one exists outside of iOS” mentality, y’see, is the way the iPhone’s equivalent of those reactions show up on Android. Plain and simple, they show up as — well, plain and simple text messages, instead of coming through as reactions.
Surely you’ve encountered this, right? Those pointless messages you get from iGoobers that say stuff like “Loved ‘Please stop texting me, Crissy’”? It’s a perfect illustration of how to waste time in your Android messaging adventures and encounter ample annoyance.
Well, scribble this on your metaphorical mental iPad: Google’s Android Messages app is actually able to intercept those absurd platform-specific reactions and turn ’em into standard reactions instead of plain-text interruptions. And it’ll take you all of 12 seconds to enable the option:
Head back into the Messages app’s settings.
Tap “Advanced.”
Look for the line labeled “Show iPhone reactions as emoji” and make sure the toggle next to it is in the on position.
All that’s left is to breathe one final heavy sigh of relief — and to send Crissy a well-deserved burrito reaction.
Hey: Don’t let the learning stop here. Get six full days of advanced shortcut knowledge with my free Android Shortcut Supercourse. Tons of time-saving tricks await!ComputerworldRead More