The app surpassed 1 billion installs in April 2020, doubling its number of installs in less than a year.

This was followed by a wider global rollout throughout 2020. In December 2019, Google rolled out support for RCS messaging (under the name c hat features) in the United States, United Kingdom, France and Mexico. This was in preparation for when Google launched messages for web. In 2018, Messages adopted RCS messages and was evolved to send larger data files, sync with other apps, and even create mass messages. It was released as a standalone application independent of Android with the release of Android 5.0 Lollipop in 2014, replacing Google Hangouts as the default SMS app on Google's Nexus line of phones. The original code for Android SMS messaging was released in 2009 integrated into the Operating System. Messages is Google's official universal messaging platform for the Android ecosystem, similar to the implementation of iMessage on Apple devices. Messages (formerly known as Android Messages) is an SMS, RCS, and instant messaging application developed by Google for its Android and WearOS mobile operating systems, while it's also available via the Web.

Google messenger web