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Android Messages on the Google Pixel 2 XL.

  • Google has brought a categories feature to Google Messages, sorting your texts into several categories.
  • It’s also launched the option to automatically delete your OTP texts after 24 hours.

Google Messages is the default SMS app on a variety of Android phones around the world, offering plenty of welcome features. Now, Google is introducing a major update that should help you make more sense of your texts.

The search giant has announced (h/t: 9to5Google) that it’s launching a new categories feature, using machine learning to sort messages by personal transactions, offers, OTPs, and standard personal messages (for conversations with saved contacts). Check out a screenshot below for a look at how this works.

Google Messages categories

“All of this happens safely on your device so your conversations stay in the app and you can access your categorized messages offline,” Google explained in a blog post announcing the feature.

This should therefore make life a lot easier when you delve into Google Messages, allowing you to quickly find the texts you actually want. This isn’t the only new feature coming to the service though.

Google Messages OTP deletion official

The company announced that Google Messages will now automatically delete your OTP messages after 24 hours. This takes the form of an optional prompt (as seen above), so you can choose to ignore this feature if you’d like.

In any event, these features are launching in India first and require Android 8 Oreo or higher. There’s no word on a wider launch just yet, but we’re guessing it’ll come to other markets in the coming months.