Google Messages looks set to get a far more granular snooze feature

Managing notifications can feel like a constant battle. Thankfully over the years, Google has provided tools to help, like the ability to snooze notifications directly from the Android shade or push emails back to the top of your inbox later with Gmail’s snooze feature. It appears Google is now preparing to bring this same level of granular control to Google Messages.

Digging into the latest Google Messages beta (version messages.android_20250331_02_RC00.phone.openbeta_dynamic), the team over at Android Authority uncovered code strings pointing towards an upcoming notification snoozing capability for individual conversations. This isn’t just a simple on/off toggle, either, as the evidence suggests a more robust implementation.

<string name="dialog_snooze_confirm">Snooze</string>
<string name="snooze_cancel_button">Cancel</string>
<string name="snooze_checkbox_mute_exception_option">Allow notifications for when you are @mentioned</string>
<string name="snooze_dialog_message">Other members will not see that you snoozed this chat.</string>
<string name="snooze_dialog_title">Snooze notifications?</string>
<string name="snooze_failure_snackbar_action_label">OK</string>
<string name="snooze_failure_snackbar_message">Failed to snooze, try again later.</string>
<string name="snooze_failure_snackbar_message_alternative">Snooze is not available for this chat.</string>
<string name="snooze_radio_option_1_hour">1 hour</string>
<string name="snooze_radio_option_24_hours">24 hours</string>
<string name="snooze_radio_option_8_hours">8 hours</string>
<string name="snooze_radio_option_always">Always</string>

Based on the discovered strings, users might soon be able to silence notifications from specific chats for set durations: one hour, eight hours, or a full 24 hours. There even seems to be an option to snooze a conversation indefinitely, effectively mimicking the current mute function but with the potential for more nuanced control down the line.

A particularly useful detail found in the code relates to group chats. Snoozing a noisy group conversation won’t alert other members, allowing you to take a break from the chatter discreetly. Furthermore, the strings hint at an option to still receive notifications if you are specifically @mentioned within a snoozed chat. This is interesting because @mentions themselves are another feature Google is currently developing for Messages, indicating these two functionalities might roll out in tandem or close succession.

Currently, if a particular chat becomes overwhelming, your only real option within Messages is to mute the conversation entirely. While effective, this is a blunt solution, potentially causing you to miss important updates or mentions. Android’s system-level notification snoozing can be used, but its maximum two-hour limit isn’t always practical for ongoing conversations you just need to silence during your workday or overnight.

While this is all still currently hidden within beta code, the presence of these strings strongly suggests active development. We’ll be keeping a close eye on future Google Messages beta releases, as it seems likely this much-needed snoozing capability could start rolling out to testers within the next few months.