Google Messages wants you to stop ignoring your friends and family

A new “Nudges” feature is appearing in Google Messages for some users, and seems to be rolling out on a wider scale than it was a few months back when it was first discovered by Android Police. In an effort to help you follow up on conversations that you either forgot to reply to, or weren’t interested in engaging in, Google is placing a reminder just below the message itself.

The Nudges options can be found buried in the settings of the app, and may only appear after a server-side update. “Suggest reply reminders” will remind you to send a response to a conversation by moving it to the top of your inbox, and “Suggest follow-up reminders” will give you a nudge to respond to something you were previously conversing about, but have yet to follow up on a specific question or request for information – at least, that’s how it seems.

At this time, the two settings are hardly distinguishable from one another, but once it rolls out to everyone and we get a chance to try them out for ourselves, we’ll let you know exactly how they can tell them apart from one another and use them.

I’m not certain what level of AI and machine learning goes into building and maintaining this feature, but I’m sure that at some point, users are going to want to make sure their privacy is upheld in some way. Every time Messages gets a feature that seeks to automate a process on behalf of the user by digging into their personal conversations to make determinations, it makes people a bit uneasy.

Android Police recommends sideloading Google Messages for Android v10.8.260 in order to be prepared for the A/B test and have a higher chance of receiving it. As of right now, it feels like many of the newest Messages features – reactions, categories, and more – are only available outside of the United States, and have been for months. Here’s to hoping Google steps on the gas and gives us these features faster since they seem ready for prime time.