Starting with the release of the Fold 6 series, Samsung Messages will no longer be pre-installed on future Samsung devices. Google Messages will be the only messaging app on phones in the US. Google is pushing this especially with the implementation of RCS compatibility on Iphones come September. RCS will only work from Google Messages to IMessage. Google owns Android, their platform, their rules.
Samsung Messages will still be available for download in the Galaxy Store, stripped of any real meaningful features.
Not only will Google Messages be the sole messaging app, RSC will be turned on by default. If you wish to have RCS chat features it will ONLY be available in Google's product.
I will bet that when the next update rolls out, all those that still have enhanced features in the Samsung Messages it will be gone. Samsung Messages will now only be SMS/MMS.
This is the future going forward with messaging in the US, you either jump on board with Google Messages or you can stay with Samsung Messages with no enhanced features.
What are you all thinking by pushing your own messaging app out of your own devices? Your app is so much better than Google's. Is this part of your partnership agreement or something? Because if so, you should not have taken it. How long are you going to allow your users to download your app FROM GOOGLE before you shut it down for good? YOU DON'T EVEN OFFER IT ON YOUR OWN APP!
You've been slowly removing your own innovative features for years. Some may have not been as substantial as others, but they were still features that let you stand out among your competitors. Now it seems like you're slowly stripping yourself away to be more like them and blend in.
You had:
Air View with Air Gestures
Smart Scrolling
Tilt to Zoom
Lift to Call while in a Text Message thread
S-Beam (That Apple stole)
Smart Pause
Drama Mode (You could easily bring this back in Single Take)
Animated Photo (You could do so much with that using your "Advanced Intelligence")
Best Face (That Google Stole)
You've also stripped away features from your own health app and your own voice assistant. You took away the nutrition feature from Bixby Vision. Along with the Places features that would show you restaurants in your area. Considering you're pushing Live Translation and Interpreter on your devices, don't you think that feature would greatly come in handy for people while traveling? Of all those features to keep, you decided Discover (which uses Pintrest) and Wine were still important enough to keep? Those could not have been the 2 most popular services in that app out of the others.
You removed TeleDoc and Symtom Checker from Samsung Health. That would have been great during COVID! Sure, you may have not been happy with the results of the apps. Then fix them, make them better! You did the same for your $2,000 foldable (which is ridiculous the price is heading BACK in that direction, considering you're trying to make them mainstream) so why couldn't you do it for your useful apps?
If these were the choices of TM Roh, then please bring DJ Koh back. He did a better job.
They most certainly could. Their focus is all on AI though. And most of it is niche, circumstantial stuff. They could be doing better with that as well but they aren't. It's very disappointing how Samsung is changing. š
