Samsung finally put an end date on Samsung Messages earlier this month, confirming that the long-running app will be discontinued in July in favor of Google Messages. The milestone has been coming for a while, but it still feels like the end of an era for one of Samsung’s oldest default apps. We wanted to know where you stood on it, and we ran a reader poll to find out.
Our own Joe Maring reacted to the news, arguing that the shutdown is ultimately good news for everyone. His view was that this isn’t really about Samsung killing off a beloved app for the sake of it, but about Android finally settling on one proper messaging standard. He pointed to Google Messages being the main home of RCS, with features like read receipts, typing indicators, and more, arguing that Samsung Messages has been falling behind for years. While fans of Samsung’s app might find the transition annoying at first, Joe’s take was that the payoff is a better and more consistent texting experience on Android.
