Google Messages Update: Essential Long-Awaited Feature Added, But One Flaw Remains

Many users have smartphones equipped with dual SIM capabilities, making the ability to switch between them quickly a crucial feature. Originally, Google offered a straightforward and seamless solution in its Messages app, but later made the process unnecessarily complicated. Fortunately, the tech giant is now taking steps to improve the situation.

Google’s relationship with its Messages application seems to be a complicated one. Although the Mountain View-based company sometimes introduces useful features, such as a trash folder similar to Gmail’s that makes deleting messages less final, it often takes years for it to add essential features that users have long been awaiting.

Furthermore, the tech behemoth frequently procrastinates in fixing longstanding bugs in the app. Meanwhile, it also tends to “fix” features that did not need any tweaking, only to make them less user-friendly. A prime example of this is the SIM card selector feature.

Google Makes SIM Card Switching Easier, Yet It’s Not Quite There Yet

In the past, switching between SIM cards while messaging on the same smartphone was made very easy with Google Messages, thanks to a simple selector accessible right from the input bar.

Earlier this year, however, Mountain View complicated this simple action by adding unnecessary steps: moving the option to the contact details page. This forced users to navigate to this page, click on the option, select the desired SIM card, and then navigate back to the conversation.

The company is now attempting to rectify this issue. According to a user – whose comments were reported by Android Authority – the latest beta version of Messages introduces a new shortcut for quickly changing SIM cards while composing a message.

To use it, one simply needs to press and hold the message input bar until a context menu appears with the option Switch SIM. Clicking on this takes you directly to the profile page to select the desired SIM card, and then back to the conversation with just one tap.

While this new method enhances the user experience, it still isn’t as seamless as the original since it does not allow for direct switching between two SIM cards. Google may further improve this feature in future updates to the app.