Now That Samsung Messages Is Officially Shut Down, You Only Have One Real Choice Left.
In April , Samsung announced plans to shut down its signature Messages app . This shouldn’t have come as a big surprise to Galaxy users: Samsung Messages hadn’t been the default app on Galaxy devices for a long time. In fact, the company didn’t even include the app with newer devices, choosing Google Messages as the new messaging standard. Galaxy S26 users can’t download the app at all.
In its initial announcement, the company said Samsung Messages would be shutting down in July, but declined to give a specific date. So, when July 1st arrived and the app was still running, some users may have felt a small sense of comfort: maybe Samsung wasn’t serious about shutting down the app. Unfortunately, that turned out not to be the case. It appears the company has chosen July 7th as the end date, as the app is officially shut down. You can still open Samsung Messages, but if you try to send a message, the text field will be grayed out (locked).
What should Samsung Messages users do now?
Although the Samsung Messages app is no longer supported, it’s not gone forever. As I mentioned, you can still access it, which means you can also view your message history. And, according to Samsung , you can still use the app, albeit in extremely limited conditions. If your device is running Android 11 or earlier, Samsung Messages will continue to work. Additionally, all users can contact emergency services from Samsung Messages, as well as their emergency contacts. If you’ve set someone as an emergency contact, you have a workaround to continue using Samsung Messages.
There’s another workaround, but I don’t recommend it. As Android Authority notes , you can uninstall app updates to regain access by going to Settings > Apps > Samsung Messages > Advanced options and selecting “Uninstall updates.” From there, go to Galaxy Store, then Menu > Updates > Samsung Messages > Advanced options . Here, disable “Enable automatic updates” to prevent the Galaxy Store and One UI from messing with Samsung Messages. According to Android Authority, this should allow you to continue using Samsung Messages as if the app hadn’t been closed, but I don’t recommend doing this for longer than a short period. Now that the app isn’t receiving new updates, any security vulnerabilities that may appear in the future won’t be patched. This makes Samsung Messages users more likely to be targeted by phishing and hacking, putting their devices and data at risk.
Switching to Google Messages is the best solution.
Unfortunately, for most Samsung Messages users, the best solution is to switch to Google Messages . While I suspect many Samsung Messages fans don’t want to switch to Google’s app, it’s truly the easiest option. Once you make Google Messages your default messaging app, your message history will automatically begin migrating from Samsung Messages—though Samsung says it can’t guarantee how long this process will take.
However, there are third-party apps you can choose from. Specifically, when it comes to SMS apps, you’ll find similar features in Textra , Chomp SMS , and Handcent SMS . The problem is that your Samsung Messages history may not automatically transfer when switching to one of these apps. You can also try a third-party SMS backup app, such as SMS Backup & Restore , but again, it’s unclear whether you’ll be able to transfer your messages. If your primary goal is to migrate messages to a new app, Google Messages may be a better option.