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Google keeps bugging Android users to update the Messages app until it is done

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By Alan Friedman

Published: May 02, 2024, 11:41 PM

Google keeps bugging Android users to update the Messages app until it is done

No one likes to be reminded constantly to do something. But sometimes repetitive requests work and Google is trying this out by disseminating a full-screen notification when the Google Messages app needs to be updated. Previously, such a notification would cover half the screen and you could blow it off if you so desired. Once closed, the notification didn't appear again. But Google doesn't think that you're thinking about this correctly and so it will remind you to update the Google Messages app repeatedly until it is updated.

With an app like Google Messages, you want to run the latest version of the app and a new update might not have just new features, it might also have new security capabilities that are important. When Google has an update for Messages, it wants you to install it ASAP. So new update notifications for the app are not only full-screen as we noted, if you close the notification without updating Google Messages, the same full-screen notification will reappear the next time you open the Google Messages app. Yikes and double yikes.

This full-screen notification prompting Android users to update Google Messages will keep repeating every time the app is open

To make matters worse, if you don't update Google Messages from the full-screen notification, it will show up every time you open the app until you finally give in and tap the button to unlock the app, or the app auto-updates. In January, Google announced that it was introducing these new repeating full-screen prompts but so far, these notifications have been seen for Google Messages only.

We would imagine that most Android users eventually get the hint when the notification continues to show up every time the Google Messages app is open and eventually they update the app. But Google should probably employ a less annoying tact by using the empty space on the full-page notification to explain to users why they need to run the latest, updated version of the app. If the user doesn't update at that point, Google should just let it go and let the app auto-update. At the end of the day, the Google Messages app is updated just like Google wanted, and the Android user doesn't hold a grudge against Google for annoying the hell out of him.

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Alan, an ardent smartphone enthusiast and a veteran writer at PhoneArena since 2009, has witnessed and chronicled the transformative years of mobile technology. Owning iconic phones from the original iPhone to the iPhone 15 Pro Max, he has seen smartphones evolve into a global phenomenon. Beyond smartphones, Alan has covered the emergence of tablets, smartwatches, and smart speakers.

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