Samsung Messages has been discontinued, but someone just brought it back (sort of)

Missing Samsung Messages? This app promises to bring back the same One UI experience.

A Galaxy S23 home screen with the Samsung Messages app front and center.
A Galaxy S23 home screen with the Samsung Messages app front and center. | Image by PhoneArena
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Unlike Google, Samsung rarely discontinues its applications. However, it recently took the tough decision to kill its messaging app to make way for Google Messages, which supports the very important RCS capability. Most Galaxy users are definitely not impressed by this move, as our poll results indicate that, out of 1,107 voters, almost 84% believe that Samsung Messages is better than Google Messages.

Well, the app is now unfortunately gone, and we can't do anything about it. However, someone has built a clone of it that claims to offer the same One UI messaging experience that Samsung fans were missing.

Meet Messages by OzarksMade


Messages by OzarksMade is a third-party application that reportedly delivers almost the same experience as Samsung Messages. The developer has posted a few images of the app on its official website. From the app icon and interface to the layout, everything looks almost identical to the discontinued messaging app from Samsung.

The website mentions that the app contains all the capabilities that you would expect in a modern messaging application, which includes support for SMS, MMS, group messaging, and local backups. You also get the option to schedule messages, and most importantly, the application also supports RCS. However, there is a big catch with the RCS compatibility that you need to be aware of.

RCS support seems impossible without Google Messages



Messages by OzarksMade app reportedly have two modes: standalone and companion. The former will allow you to send regular SMS and MMS without any of those RCS setups. The latter is what enables the RCS compatibility in this app; however, it is made possible because of Google Messages that runs in the background.

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No third-party messaging app currently has access to the RCS infrastructure; as a result, they have to rely on Google Messages. The availability of this feature brings many important capabilities like chat bubbles, typing indicators, high-quality media sharing, read receipts, and reactions.

Which is the best Samsung Messages alternative for you?
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Galaxy fans are really missing Samsung Messages


The poll result that I shared above isn't the only proof that Galaxy users are really missing the Samsung Messages app. Online forums like Reddit are filled with posts and comments with users basically criticizing Samsung's decision to discontinue its messaging app. A Reddit user who claims to be a loyal Galaxy user for decades mentions that Google Messages is awful in comparison to Samsung Messages.



Another user commented that if they wanted to use the Google SMS service, then they would have bought a Google or any other Android phone instead of a Galaxy smartphone. I was also able to spot a comment in which the user pointed out the customization limitations of Google Messages.

For reference, one of the main advantages of the Samsung texting app was that you could change the chat background as per your choice. Fortunately, this much-needed capability is now also available on Google Messages. The app now lets you have different chat colors and backgrounds for different conversations.

Most important message


While Messages by OzarksMade sounds like a really interesting application that resembles Samsung Messages, it's worth noting that it's not an official Samsung product. I personally haven't tried this app, so I can't guarantee how well it performs or whether it checks all the boxes of a perfect Samsung Messages clone. Also, since it is a third-party application, you should be very cautious about the privacy aspect and think twice before making it your default texting application.

In addition to all that, it's possible for the application to face legal issues since it looks almost identical to the Samsung texting service. All that said, the app is currently available for beta sign-up, and you will have to pay $0.99 to enjoy its services once it becomes publicly available.

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