topic Re: Re: Re: Re: Samsung Messages to Potentially Receive a Massive Upgrade in O.. in Galaxy S25

Samsung Messages to Potentially Receive a Massive Upgrade in One UI 8.5 for Gala

GiantFan — Mon, 06 Apr 2026 21:14:11 GMT

A new UI framework for Samsung Messages in One UI 8.5

Samsung’s “Liquid Glass” design language in One UI 8.5 isn’t just a visual effect — it requires new UI components, new animation hooks, and new rendering layers. Apps that want to use Liquid Glass need to be rebuilt on top of Samsung’s updated UI framework.

Samsung Messages is one of those apps.

New UI Framework

Liquid Glass blur effects
New message bubble animations
New reaction UI
New long‑press interaction menu
New media preview cards
New chat header design
New transitions and gestures

New RCS Features

Full emoji reaction support
Inline reaction rendering
Improved group chat controls
Better media handling
More reliable Jibe provisioning
Possibly message editing (if Samsung adopts the Jibe API for it)

This is the “big update” that reviewers haven’t seen yet is because of one of the following three reasons:

They’re not using Samsung Messages
They’re not testing on S25 devices
The UI changes aren’t fully live in the beta yet

Yes, I know everyone has every right to be angry. 🤬 The rumors of Samsung resurrecting Samsung Messages from the ashes were all false and just speculation. I am as angry as everyone else. Today, I was told by a Verizon Representative that I would need to migrate to Google Messages as of July 6, 2026, because of this disappointing news. We are being forced to use a messaging app that is inferior to Samsung Messages.

I thought for sure that Samsung was doing something worthwhile with Samsung Messages, when there was a stutter fix of the app in One UI 8.5 Beta 7's changelog. The Now Nudge feature will now be a shell of itself as it was supposed to work with Samsung Messages. The lack of carrier support for the app is what has done it in. Verizon and T-Mobile were the only two carriers willing to support the RCS Chat feature that Samsung tried to reintroduce through Google's Jibe Platform. The road block to that was Verizon and T-Mobile were only willing to support the RCS Chat feature on the Samsung Galaxy S25 series and all future Galaxy series phones. Samsung apparently has decided that the effort to keep the app alive was an unsustainable effort.

Re: Samsung Messages to Potentially Receive a Massive Upgrade in One UI 8.5 fo..

Pianodude58 — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 17:47:56 GMT

And what's the source?

Re: Samsung Messages to Potentially Receive a Massive Upgrade in One UI 8.5 fo..

DogGoneIt1989 — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 17:49:31 GMT

If this will only be for the S26 series are you going to upgrade just for this?

Re: Re: Samsung Messages to Potentially Receive a Massive Upgrade in One UI 8...

DogGoneIt1989 — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 17:50:28 GMT

Sammy Guru, aka Jeff Springer!

Re: Re: Re: Re: Samsung Messages to Potentially Receive a Massive Upgrade in O..

DogGoneIt1989 — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 17:56:33 GMT

He is not always correct!
I can see Samsung doing this for the S26 series to sell more phones to the die hard Samsung messages fan bois.

Re: Samsung Messages to Potentially Receive a Massive Upgrade in One UI 8.5 for Galaxy S25 Series Devices and S26 Series Devices

GiantFan — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 18:02:39 GMT

Phone Arena was the source for the RCS features: https://www.phonearena.com/news/samsung-messages-one-ui-8_id170348?utm_source=copilot.com Sammy Guru was the source for the Samsung Messages receiving a total UI makeover: https://sammyguru.com/samsung-messages-one-ui-8-5-update-makeover/?utm_source=copilot.com

Re: Samsung Messages to Potentially Receive a Massive Upgrade in One UI 8.5 fo..

GiantFan — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 18:09:21 GMT

The S25 series devices are supposed to receive these features also. Samsung has brought Samsung Messages back from the dead. If you have Verizon or T-Mobile as a carrier, you can currently use Samsung Messages with limited RCS features. The limited RCs features include:

RCS delivery receipts
RCS read receipts
Typing indicators
High‑quality media
Group chat

Re: Re: Samsung Messages to Potentially Receive a Massive Upgrade in One UI 8...

DogGoneIt1989 — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 18:10:23 GMT

The Phone Arena article is 7 months old. Jeff's post is the most recent.

Re: Re: Re: Samsung Messages to Potentially Receive a Massive Upgrade in One U..

GiantFan — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 20:35:52 GMT

I am currently using Samsung Messages on my S25+ with Verizon as my carrier. I can assure you that I have the limited RCS features that I replied to you about. It is in the settings of the app under Chat Features.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Samsung Messages to Potentially Receive a Massive Upgrade in O..

DogGoneIt1989 — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 18:26:37 GMT

I switched to Google Messages in 2019 when RCS rolled out. The only thing I miss from Samsung Messages is the selective copy feature which Google Messages doesn't have.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Samsung Messages to Potentially Receive a Massive Upgrade ..

GiantFan — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 18:36:10 GMT

I had no choice but to switch from Samsung Messages to Google Messages when Verizon stop support for the app at the beginning of 2025, while I was using the Galaxy S22+. Samsung Messages wouldn't work on that device at all.
I recently upgraded to the Galaxy S25+, and this is when I found out that limited RCS functionality was working on Samsung Messages on One UI 8.
Verizon and T-Mobile have apparently agreed to reinstate RCS support for Samsung Messages on the S25 series devices and any future Galaxy device.
If you are on a Samsung Galaxy 24 series device or older, Samsung Messages will not work with the limited RCS features.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Samsung Messages to Potentially Receive a Massive Upgrade ..

GiantFan — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 18:39:10 GMT

When the S25 series first came out, it was released with One UI 7. There was no carrier RCS support for Samsung Messages while the S25 devices were on that software version. Apparently, this has changed.

Re: Samsung Messages to Potentially Receive a Massive Upgrade in One UI 8.5 fo..

userFR1UUm8YAc — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 21:14:39 GMT

I would be happy if, when using Gemini to suggest corrections to my text messages, it didn't say "unavailable because of inappropriate content" when it's something as simple as "your roof looks okay."

Re: Re: Samsung Messages to Potentially Receive a Massive Upgrade in One UI 8...

CEParsons — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 21:55:07 GMT

If Samsung has been trying to convince Google to allow them to universally provision Jibe in Samsung Messages, that would help make sense of why they've kept the app on life support thus far.

Personally, I would just like some clear messaging on this. The current official literature seems to suggest that Google Messages is required for RCS in the vast majority of cases (including my own - I have zero access to chat features in SMessages,) yet the app appears to be getting a visual refresh, suggesting it isn't totally dead yet.

I understand they can't disclose what's happening in closed door discussions, but some official statements would be quite welcome!

Re: Re: Re: Samsung Messages to Potentially Receive a Massive Upgrade in One U..

GiantFan — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 22:43:01 GMT

What carrier do you have? In the US, Verizon and T-Mobile are they only carriers permitting RCS support for Samsung Messages on S25 series devices.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Samsung Messages to Potentially Receive a Massive Upgrade in O..

CEParsons — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 22:51:10 GMT

Cricket, S24+ factory unlocked. Chat Features are totally absent in SMessages in my case.

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Samsung Messages to Potentially Receive a Massive Upgrade ..

GiantFan — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 23:06:28 GMT

Older Galaxy models cannot use RCS in Samsung Messages because carriers won’t support Samsung’s legacy RCS stack.
The only reason Galaxy S25 series users can use RCS in Samsung Messages, because Samsung is now using Google’s RCS backend.
But this is only active on S25 devices using Verizon or T-Mobile.

Re: Samsung Messages to Potentially Receive a Massive Upgrade in One UI 8.5 fo..

MsVirgo87 — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 23:33:05 GMT

I don't and won't believe this til I see it

Re: Re: Samsung Messages to Potentially Receive a Massive Upgrade in One UI 8...

Crazyhair — Sat, 10 Jan 2026 23:52:27 GMT

I left you a message about this the other day. Notice how the paid google influencer is not responding telling you that you have no choice but to use google.
https://sammyguru.com/samsung-messages-one-ui-8-5-update-makeover/

Re: Re: Re: Samsung Messages to Potentially Receive a Massive Upgrade in One U..

MsVirgo87 — Sun, 11 Jan 2026 00:03:05 GMT

Oh u did, I'm not getting some of my notifications on this app and I seen that samsung messages app and that was only updated outside of the US and can't even be downloaded on US phones cause I have tried many times and it says app not installed