I’ve been using Google Messages for years, and I want it to have these 5 features copied into it

I’m a creature of habit — when I find something I like, I tend to stick with it. I’m not ashamed to pick favorites, whether it’s primarily keeping a Google Pixel in my pocket (when I can) or a Garmin GPS watch on my wrist. The same goes for apps — especially ones I use daily for things like messaging and checking the weather. While I’m currently deciding on a new favorite weather companion (thanks to the debut of Google’s Pixel Weather), I’ve trusted the same messaging platform for years: Google Messages. It’s been my mainstay across Google Pixels, Samsung Galaxy devices, and even my time on the Motorola Razr and OnePlus Open.

And yet, I know that Google Messages isn’t perfect. I know that you have to give up a few features if you switch from Samsung Messages to Google Messages, and I know that it simply doesn’t work on iOS. But, in the spirit of growth, I think that my favorite messaging app could stand to learn from its competitors. Here are five things I think Google Messages should copy and paste.

First, I’d love for Google to pull sticker creation from Apple’s iMessage. Yes, it’s a silly feature, but I’ve found it to be a useful one. If a friend sends you an image over iMessage, you can simply press and hold on the subject, wait for a wave-like effect to run across the screen, and turn it into a sticker — it’s that easy. Then, you can save that sticker and add an effect, like a thick outline or a shiny finish that looks like the reflective stickers teachers handed out in school.

Once you’ve built up a little library of stickers, you can start using them to respond to messages, much like if you were laughing at or liking a message. I’ve switched almost entirely from emoji reactions to stickers — there’s just something funnier about reacting with the likeness of someone you know. Granted, it doesn’t have to be someone you know — Apple will let you make stickers out of memes, cartoons, and just about anything else, and it has pretty good edge detection, too.

You can make stickers in Google Messages, but Apple’s solution is much simpler.

For what it’s worth, Google Messages supports a Photomoji feature — I just think Apple’s version is better. Google Messages will let you pick a photo from your library and select a subject to send, but it doesn’t save its stickers quite as nicely. Where iMessage will save your sticker with its original outline for reactions, Google seems to compress its stickers into a small circle, making them all uniform in shape but much more challenging to see.

If I were Google, I would at least consider copying Apple’s freeform sticker borders and probably adding the optional effects, too. It’s far more enjoyable to create and send a sticker in iMessage than in Google Messages.

I’ve also realized that even though Google might be my go-to search engine, it doesn’t have the best approach to searching through your old messages. Right now, when you type in a keyword to search for it in Google Messages, you can only see a small part of each message containing the term, making it much harder to pick out the context you’re looking for. Sure, you’ll get plenty of results, but you might spend just as long tapping back and forth between them.

So, I think Google needs to revamp its search feature to match Samsung Messages. It might not show as many results at any one time, but Samsung Messages pulls up each message in its entirety so you can check the context of what you’re searching for. Otherwise, the two messaging platforms offer the same searchability — putting a search button within the settings of each chat — Google just needs to refine its results. And, now that Samsung is moving…

For the rest of the content, please check out DeFi Daily News [http://defi-daily.com].