Google seems to be working on a new feature that will enable you to create profile with your email on Messages. A Reddit user who stumbled upon the new feature posted a screenshot online. According to the screenshot shared by u/seeareeff, the feature looks like a “Profile” in Messages.
If the feature becomes available sometimes in the future, the Profile feature may work same way as WhatsApp, Telegram and the likes. According to the Reddit user, you could set up a profile using your email address and then upload a profile photo.
There is the likelihood of a visibility option to select who can view your profile: public, contacts, or only you. When you set the privacy to “public,” anyone who sends you a message will be able to see your profile information if you respond to them.
It is not clear how this feature will work, but the visibility option is a standard part of profile setup on other messaging apps. Under the profile setting menu, you will also see toggles for receiving notifications whenever there is a new update from your contacts. Below that option is another toggle for receiving notifications when new contacts are found.
A couple of weeks ago, Google Messages’ new end-to-end encryption (E2EE) feature in group chats started rolling out to users. Google announced at the CES/Las Vegas push that it has completed the rollout of the “group chat end-to-end encryption for users in Open Beta.”
In fairness to Google, its E2EE rollout in group chats in Messages has been more transparent when compared to its competitors. At least we have seen more user-participation in the entire process since the company first gave hint of the E2EE feature.
Google has spent much of the last few years building and improving its Messages app. Truth is, there remains a lot to be done, but much have changed in the last couple of weeks though. The feature was first announced by Google sometimes in May 2022.
This is good news if Google really wants to ever compete with Apple’s iMessage and other notable chat apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal in terms of offering chat services.
Messages’ new E2E works the same way the RCS does in terms of one-on-one chats. It appears automatically in supported threads once it becomes active on your device. It appears as a lock icon on the send icon alerting you to the change.
