Well, surprise: Messages has such an option! Tap your profile picture in the app’s upper-right corner and look for “Mark all as read” in the menu that comes up to find it — then let yourself rest easy as all that attention-demanding boldness melts away once and for all.
Android Messages trick #9: Quicker cleanup
Certain services love to send confirmation codes via text messaging when you sign in or try to perform some action. It may not be the most advisable or effective form of extra security, but — well, it’s better than nothing. And for better or for worse, it’s a pretty common tactic.
Core security considerations aside, the most maddening part of these confirmation codes is having ’em clutter up your messages list at every Goog-forsaken moment. But the Google-made Android Messages app can actually take care of that for you, without any ongoing effort — if you take about 20 seconds to make the right tweak now.
Here’s the secret:
- Tappity-tap that comely character in the upper-right corner of the main Messages screen (y’know, the one whose appearance has a striking resemblance to your oversized head).
- Tap “Messages settings” in the menu that comes up, then select “Messages organization.”
- Within that curiously created section, you’ll see only one option: “Auto-delete OTP messages after 24 hours.” OTP may not exactly be an everyday, universally known abbreviation, but fear not — for it isn’t an erroneous reference to an early 90s rap hit with equally ambiguous meaning. Nope: It stands for one-time password, which is the same thing we’re thinking about here.
- Flip that toggle into the on and active position, then flip a finger of your choice to all the confirmation codes in your messages list with the knowledge that they’ll be auto-purged a day after their arrival from that point forward.
Who’s down with OTP? Every last homie. (I apologize.)
Android Messages trick #10: A voice message time-saver
In an amusingly full-circle progression, people for some reason seem to love sending voice messages within texting conversations these days. If you’re anything like me, though, you might not so much adore listening to said messages instead of simply reading what the other person wants to tell you.
Google Messages has a solution: Head back into the app’s settings — by tapping your profile photo in the upper-right corner of the main screen and then selecting “Messages settings” — and then look for the line labeled “Voice message transcription.”
Tap it, and make sure the toggle next to “Show transcripts of voice messages” is in the on and active position.
The next time someone sends you a voice message, you’ll see a plain text transcription of their words right alongside the audio player.
Yes, please — and thank you.
Android Messages trick #11: Readable reactions
Speaking of brevity, Slack-style reactions may seem silly on the surface, but they serve an important communication purpose in allowing you to quickly acknowledge a message without having to carry the conversation on further. Whether it’s a thumbs-up, a clapping hands symbol, or even perhaps an occasional burrito emoji, it really can be a handy way to say “Yup, got it” (or “Yup, want beefy goodness”) without having to use a single word.
You probably know you can summon a reaction within the Android Messages app by pressing and holding a specific message within a conversation and then selecting from the list of available emoji options — right? But beyond that, Messages packs an even faster way to issue a reaction in the blink of an eye.
And here it is: Simply double-tap your finger onto any individual message within a conversation. That’ll apply the thumbs-up reaction to it without the need for any long-press or symbol selection.
It’d be nice if there were a way to customize which reaction is used for that action by default — so that, obviously, we could all change it to the burrito emoji, since that’s what any sane person uses most often — but if and when an upward thumb will do the job, now you’ve got a super-easy way to bring it into any conversation with a fast finger tap.
Android Messages trick #12: iRritation elimination
Last but not least in our list of magnificent Messages enhancements is something specific for your conversations with the Apple-adoring animals in your life. And it relates to those very same sorts of reactions we were just going over.
One obnoxious side effect of Apple’s “no one exists outside of iOS” mentality, y’see, is the way the iPhone’s equivalent of those reactions show up on Android. Plain and simple, they show up as — well, plain and simple text messages, instead of coming through as reactions.
Surely you’ve encountered this, right? Those pointless messages you get from iGoobers that say stuff like “Loved ‘Please stop texting me, Crissy’”? It’s a perfect illustration of how to waste time in your Android messaging adventures and encounter ample annoyance.
Well, scribble this on your metaphorical mental iPad: Google’s Android Messages app is actually able to intercept those absurd platform-specific reactions and turn ’em into standard reactions instead of plain-text interruptions. And it’ll take you all of 12 seconds to enable the option:
- Head back into the Messages app’s settings.
- Tap “Advanced.”
- Look for the line labeled “Show iPhone reactions as emoji” and make sure the toggle next to it is in the on position.
All that’s left is to breathe one final heavy sigh of relief — and to send Crissy a well-deserved burrito reaction.
Hey: Don’t let the learning stop here. Get six full days of advanced shortcut knowledge with my free Android Shortcut Supercourse. Tons of time-saving tricks await!
This story originally appeared on Computerworld
