Google has slowly but surely been refreshing its Messages experience. The last addition to the app in v5.0 was a dark theme that syncs with the system mode on Android 10, but the latest Google Messages beta, version 5.2, brings reminders so that you don’t forget to message your loved ones back.
Many at times we receive messages that we check immediately but need to act on later, and when the notification is gone, you can’t snooze it to be nudged later. Often the recourse is to set a separate task or reminder in another app to jog your memory, which you may also forget about until your contact pings you again.
Once you get Google Messages 5.2, new message notifications now have an additional option. Next to “Mark as read” and “Reply,” you’ll now find a third button suggesting “Set Reminder.” From this, you can set a reminder for one hour, the next morning, noon, or night, or pick a specific date and time on when to action your chats. Once the reminder is set, an alarm clock icon shows up on the right of the chat, and the reminder can further be edited or removed by opening that conversation.
Left and Middle: Set a message reminder. Right: Reminder is already set.
Once your time set is here, you’ll get a new notification with the last message received in the chat. Even at this stage, users can still snooze the reminder for another hour by tapping to open it.
Left: Update or delete a set reminder. Middle & Right: Reminder notification.
This feature will come with Messages 5.2 which is currently slowly rolling out on the Play Store. But in the meantime, you can sign up for Beta updates to Google Messages either directly from the Play Store listing or on the web.