Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority
TL;DR
- Google temporarily removed nudges/reminders from Google Messages.
- The removal allowed developers to redesign the conversation screen.
- A flag spotted in Google Messages suggests the feature is coming back with support for the redesigned screen.
A while back, it was reported that Google was removing the “Nudge” feature from Messages. Now it appears the tech giant is preparing to bring the feature to the app.
Nudges were first introduced in 2018 as a function for Gmail before expanding out to Google Messages in 2021. In Messages, the feature would prompt you to reply to messages and encourage you to follow up on outgoing messages by pushing unfinished conversations to the top of your conversations list. The feature was also used to remind users about birthdays if a date was stored in the contacts app.
The capability was first noticed to be broken when users realized they were no longer receiving birthday reminders. In addition, the feature seemed to disappear completely from the Suggestions page.
As it turns out, this was just a temporary removal as Google worked on redesigning the conversation screen. During the process, Google needed to remove support for message organization and a few other things in order to finish. Now those features are slowly coming back, including Nudges.
We discovered a flag referencing the Nudges feature in the latest Google Messages update.
In the image on the left, you’ll notice that the word nudges is followed by the term conv_2 (conversation 2). Conversation 2 is actually used for the redesigned conversation screen. This means that Nudges is coming back, and it will support the redesigned screen.
It’s unclear when Google plans to roll the feature out to everyone.