Google has begun testing the possibility of providing categorization for Messages to reduce conversations clutter. As first spotted on Twitter, this is still in very early stages of development.
Clutter has been something that Google has wanted to improve in Messages for some time now. They have touted and implemented a number of changes which demonstrate this is something Google wish to improve.
Most recently, reports emerged that Google may get a Gmail-style organization feature to try and improve messages clutter. This is fairly close to the feature we Google has begun testing now.
Google Messages now also automatically deletes OTPs. Clearly, this is another attempt to try and declutter in the message box which for many is a big problem.
As reported by XDA Developers, many users have patiently waited for this feature. However, the testing process could be a long one and roll out looks fairly haphazard.
Google test Messages categorization feature
This new Google Messages categorization feature hopes to remove clutter from users inboxes. It should allow users to better organize their messages and as such better locate the ones they want.
Google has provided the categories in the test which as so far as follows. All, Personal, Transactions, OTP, Offers, and More. There may be more that we cannot yet see or more that Google has planned in the future.
Many other messaging apps such as Microsoft’s SMS Organizer already do this sort of thing for users. However, it is nice to see Google catching up and bringing this sort of integration to its apps.
However, there are a few caveats to this new feature for now at least. It looks like you cannot get it completely working. Although categories display at the top, messages do not necessarily move to the correct one automatically. It can also be difficult to manually move a conversation to one of the categories.
Naturally, when this feature goes live and is fully functional this will change. However, it is probably not worth getting too excited about this feature just yet.
Despite all of this it is a nice little addition to Google Messages. The ability to filter out things like OTPs automatically, in particular, is a good touch.
For many inbox clutter is extremely annoying and frustrating. Hopefully, features like this can someway to making a difference. However, we may have to wait sometime for this to roll out fully but when it does it will be a useful innovation for many.