Google Messages to get Profiles feature; Users can add names and images

Google Messages has been receiving regular updates lately; some are game-changers. Last month, a new feature was reported to block access to screen sharing from any third-party app so no one else can see your messages. This time, the messaging platform powered by Rich Communication Services (RCS) offers a quality-of-life improvement that will give users more personalization and control over how they are seen when they send a message. Google Messages finally gets profiles.

9to5Google decompiled the latest version of Google Messages from the Play Store and found something exciting hidden within its codes. Chains display a new Profile tab and a profile settings section. There's another line of code for Profile Sharing, which could work like contact sharing. One part of the string says, "Choose your profile name and picture so people can recognize you", where users will likely be able to add a name and photo to their profile.

Google messages to get profiles

Earlier this year, a Reddit post on the r/UniversalProfile subreddit (a forum for people who prefer RCS) showed what this profile page could look like after some people started seeing this configuration option on their Android devices. The description of the chain code matches what we see in the shared image. Additionally, there are options for visibility when your profile is shared, and you receive notifications about profile updates from your contacts.

We are still determining whether Profiles is an RCS or a Google Messages-specific feature. If it is based on RCS, it would be available to all devices running RCS, whether they use Google Messages or not. But there is no way to confirm this.

We must note that even though this feature has been seen in the APK codes, it still needs to be rolled out or will appear soon. Sometimes, developers scrap a feature mid-stream and don't remove lines of code, which then make it into the published version. To know if Profiles will come to the application, we must wait for an official confirmation from Google.