The Samsung Messages App Is Closing, but There Are Ways to Continue Using It.
An era has officially ended for the Samsung Galaxy community: Samsung is discontinuing its messaging app. If you’re a Samsung Messages user, the company recommends switching to Google Messages to “improve your messaging experience.”
However, this end of support doesn’t take effect immediately. According to Samsung’s official end-of-service announcement , the company will end support for Samsung Messages in July 2026. This means you still have approximately three months to continue using the app if it’s your preferred messaging app. The company also encourages users to set Google Messages as their default app today to “maintain a stable messaging experience on Android.” Samsung says the app will notify users of the end of support.
In its service discontinuation announcement, Samsung heavily promoted Google Messages. The company touts app features like fraud detection, RCS messaging, AI capabilities, and cross-platform compatibility, so you can pick up another Android device and continue communicating. To its credit, some of these features actually make Google Messages a stronger messaging app than Samsung Messages—in particular, RCS support. Samsung Messages users are forced to use SMS chats, which limits communication in terms of both security and functionality. SMS chats don’t support high-resolution photo and video sharing, and they don’t handle modern group chats well. Most importantly, they’re unencrypted, putting your conversations at risk. While not all RCS chats are encrypted, those that are protect your conversations from potential attackers.
This decision wasn’t entirely unexpected. If you purchased a new Samsung Galaxy device in recent years, you’ll notice that the Samsung Messages app wasn’t preinstalled. Instead, you had to search for and install it yourself from Samsung’s Galaxy Store . Samsung states that Galaxy S26 devices can’t even download the app, and that after a set time limit, no device will be able to download the app.
It’s also important to note for some users: Tizen OS watches (released before the Galaxy Watch4) cannot run Google Messages. After July 2026, these watches will no longer be able to display full conversations. However, you will still be able to read and send messages.
You can continue to use Samsung Messages after the expiration date.
However, not everyone will have to switch to Google Messages. If you’re using an Android device running Android 11 or earlier, Samsung says this service discontinuation won’t affect you. It will likely affect a small portion of the Galaxy community, as we’re currently running Android 16 (or One UI 8 in the Galaxy world). However, if you have an older Android device, you can continue to use the app.
Samsung also describes several specific situations in which the app will continue to send messages—even on phones running Android 12 or later. If you try to send a regular text message, it won’t be sent. However, you will be able to send messages to emergency numbers. According to Samsung, sending an SMS to 911 from a Galaxy phone with the Samsung Messages app installed will work.
This makes perfect sense—Samsung likely doesn’t want to deal with someone trying to contact emergency services through an unsupported app and failing to get help. But what I find even more interesting is that Samsung Messages will still work when sending messages to emergency contacts . If you’ve added someone to your Galaxy’s emergency contacts list, you’ll still be able to send them messages.