Samsung is officially killing off its own Samsung Messages app, and by July 2026, Google Messages will become the default texting app on Galaxy phones and tablets in most markets. For most users, this is less of a surprise and more of Samsung finally making official what its recent phones already hinted at.

In an end-of-service notice, the company confirms that Samsung Messages will stop working in July 2026, and users are being nudged to switch to Google Messages to keep texting without any interruptions. Once the cutoff hits, you won’t be able to send regular messages via Samsung Messages anymore, with Samsung saying the app will effectively be retired except for emergency use cases like contacting emergency numbers or predefined SOS contacts.

The timing ties directly into the broader RCS push on Android and the slow but steady move toward richer, encrypted chat between iPhone and Android. Samsung is aligning itself fully with Google’s RCS-first strategy, while Apple is rolling out RCS support on iPhone with iOS 18 and is currently testing end-to-end encrypted cross‑platform RCS chats in the iOS 26.5 beta. In simple terms, the industry is finally trying to make “green bubble” conversations less painful, and Samsung ditching its own app helps reduce fragmentation.

If you’re on a newer Galaxy device, chances are you’re already living in a Google Messages world. Recent flagships like the Galaxy S26 series ship without Samsung Messages at all, and for some time now, Samsung has been preloading Google Messages as the default SMS/RCS app on its latest phones. On these devices, Samsung Messages can’t even be downloaded from the Galaxy Store anymore, and that restriction will expand to all supported models as the July 2026 deadline approaches.

There is a bit of good news for people holding on to older phones. Samsung clarifies that devices running Android 11 or earlier are not part of this end‑of‑service plan, meaning those users can keep using Samsung Messages as usual. For most modern Galaxy phones on Android 12 and above, however, the writing is on the wall: switching to Google Messages is only a matter of time.

The upside of the move is that you get all the modern RCS perks in one place. With Google Messages, users gain features like typing indicators, read receipts, higher‑quality media, better group chats, and a more consistent experience across Android brands. Samsung is also leaning on Google’s AI stack here, calling out Gemini‑powered additions like smart reply suggestions, AI‑assisted photo remixing, plus upgraded spam and scam detection baked right into Google Messages.

There are a few rough edges, especially if you rely on older hardware or accessories. Samsung warns that Galaxy smartwatches running Tizen OS (basically anything released before the Galaxy Watch4) can’t run Google Messages, so they’ll lose full conversation history once Samsung Messages goes away. Those watches will still let you read and send new texts, but scrolling back through old chats on your wrist won’t be possible anymore.

Older phones and wearables may also see some temporary RCS weirdness during the transition. Samsung notes that devices launched before 2022 could briefly lose access to ongoing RCS conversations as accounts and defaults are migrated over to Google Messages. The fallback isn’t catastrophic, though: SMS and MMS will continue to work, and RCS threads pick back up once both sides in a conversation are using Google Messages again.

For everyday users, the practical to‑do list is pretty simple: set Google Messages as your default messaging app well before July 2026, and make sure RCS is enabled in its settings if your carrier supports it. You won’t lose your existing SMS/MMS history when you switch defaults, so your old texts will remain available in Google Messages, and you’ll be ready for the RCS‑first world Samsung and Google are clearly betting on.

Zooming out, this is part of a broader interoperability story around Samsung’s ecosystem. Alongside the Messages switch, Samsung has been rolling out AirDrop‑style cross‑platform file sharing between Galaxy and Apple devices, signaling that it wants its phones to play more nicely with the rest of the industry rather than maintaining separate, siloed services. For users, that means fewer duplicate apps, fewer confusing defaults, and a much better chance that messages just work—no matter what phone the person on the other end is using.