Samsung is slowly retiring its in-house Messages app in favor of Google Messages to improve RCS adoption. However, not everyone likes the Google Messages app, and one of their reasons could be the dedicated button for Gemini. You will soon have the option to disable the Gemini button, though.
Gemini button inside Google Messages can now be disabled
At the end of July, Google rolled out a new version of the Google Messages app that introduced a dedicated floating button to activate Gemini. You can now hide that button if you don’t like it. To do that, open the Google Messages app and navigate to Settings » Gemini in Messages » Show Gemini button and disable that toggle.
According to the findings from 9To5Google, this new option is currently visible in the latest Google Messages beta app (20240808_01_RC00). It isn’t available on the stable version of the app yet.
Why is Samsung pre-installing Google Messages on its phones?
Although Samsung Messages also features RCS, the Google Messages app has a more refined and feature-rich version of RCS. Google is talking to all Android smartphone brands to make Google Messages the default messaging app on their phones to improve the consistency of RCS across the Android ecosystem.
The story continues after the video…
In the next couple of months, Apple might bring RCS to all iPhones running iOS 18. With RCS available across Android and iPhones, high-quality messaging will become easier. People won’t need to depend on Apple’s iMessage or any third-party app like WhatsApp.
RCS offers modern messaging features, including real-time typing indicators, read/sent labels, high-resolution images and videos, audio messages, location sharing, and group chatting with end-to-end encryption.
