Google’s Android Messages for web finally lets you text on your computer | Tech News

Google is finally bringing Android Messages to the web. While we’ve known that this was coming for a while now, Google has finally announced that it’s rolling out access to Messages for web, with a full rollout expected over the next week.

Google, in general, is working to make the Android messaging experience a little better, which makes sense. The company has launched a number of messaging apps over the past few years, and not many of them have met with the success that the company is undoubtedly looking for. Messages for web should help Google better compete with Apple’s iMessage, which has had an Apple desktop client for some time.

If Google has given your account access to Messages for web, all you need to do is head to the Messages for web website, open up Android Messages on your phone, select the Messages for web option on your phone, scan the QR code, and you should be good to go. The feature should work on any modern web browser.

Of course, this isn’t the first time an Android phone’s features have been available on computers. Third-party services like Pushbullet have been around for a while now, allowing you to access texts and other notifications on your computer. Still, a built-in way to do that is likely to gain a lot more traction — and hopefully be a whole lot easier to use.

Access to Messages for web isn’t the only new feature in Android Messages. Google has been adding new features to the app for some time now. For starters, when you tap the “+” icon, you’ll now be able to search for GIFs to add to your conversation. Google has also added Smart Reply to Messages, allowing you to reply to a message at the tap of a button without having to type it out. Messages will also now let you preview links before you open them up. And the app will now let you easily copy one-time passwords and security codes.

Android Messages is also set to better take on iMessage with support for Google Chat, or Google’s version of RCS. Google has been working with a slew of carriers and manufacturers to bring Chat to Android, and it’ll allow for long messages, read receipts, larger attachments, and so on. Overall, it should really bring messaging into the 21st century.