topic Can't find the setting or a way to sort Unread texts/messages in Galaxy S23

Can't find the setting or a way to sort Unread texts/messages

usera01wT8VsHB — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 21:59:09 GMT

I have not (& hopefully, will not) enable the "Chats" feature on messages.

In the past, when I opened messages there was a tab for all of the Unread messages. It's gone now.

I have searched in the settings & cannot find any way to sort the unread ones back out.

Any help would be appreciated!

Re: Unread texts / messages

Zurick — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 18:36:54 GMT

What message app are you usuing?

Re: Unread texts / messages

usera01wT8VsHB — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 20:57:27 GMT

Just the Samsung texting default.

Re: Unread texts / messages

AAbbott — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 00:46:45 GMT

Unread text messages in any messaging app are usually indicated by bold typeface, rise to the top of the chat list and have a small number to the right of the chat indicating how many unread messages there are in that chat. So it should be easy to pick out your unread messages. All text streams are chats, so I don't understand what you mean when you say you haven't turned on the chat features. Do you mean RCS chats?

Re: Unread texts / messages

usera01wT8VsHB — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 17:12:10 GMT

I think that is correct. Do they nickname it "rich" text?

Yes, the little number is there, but they do not rise to the top. They are in chronological order.

There used to be a tab titled "unread". Now it's gone, & I have to dig through a few months worth of texts to clear them out, & to see if I left something important unread. (They are mostly ads.)

The little tab of gone, & I have searched everywhere in the settings.

Re: Unread texts / messages

AAbbott — Sat, 21 Mar 2026 23:30:06 GMT

Yes, they would be in chronological order, last interaction first. This includes anything you responded to or sent prior to reading any new incoming message. So, if you got a new message, didn't open it to read it, chose another chat from your list or started a new one, it would push down any unread text. The indicator number and the bold text would still remain to let you know what was unread. I don't know how it works in Samsung messages, but in Google there was never a tab for unread messages. I would not rely on anything working properly in Samsung messages these days. In Google messages, you can have ads sent to the spam folder, so it's less to sort through. It's not the fault of the messaging app that you don't read or clear your messages for months. The app has no way of knowing that. In Google messages, you can also search for unread messages.

Re: Unread texts / messages

usera01wT8VsHB — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 17:11:39 GMT

I would say that it is their fault if they removed an easy to use tab that said, "Unread".

Google is already to invasive. I try to stay away from them as much as possible.

Thanks for the lecture.

Re: Unread texts / messages

AAbbott — Sun, 29 Mar 2026 21:16:01 GMT

OK. It's their software, they can do what they want with it.