In September we uncovered hints of a new "nudges" feature in the Google Messages app. The strings that we found within the APK revealed that the feature would help you stay on top of important conversations by sending reply reminders. While the feature wasn’t accessible to end-users at the time, Google has finally started rolling it out to users.

As spotted by Mishaal Rahman, the latest Google Message update has begun rolling out the nudges feature for some users.

Users can activate the feature by going to Settings > General > Suggestions > Nudges. There are two settings: “suggest reply reminders” and “suggest follow-up reminders.” The first option, when enabled, automatically displays “messages you might have forgotten to respond to” at the top of your inbox. Meanwhile, the second option will draw your attention to ”messages you might need to follow up on.”

The nudges feature appears to be rolling out with Google Messages version 10.8.260 beta. However, it's most likely a server-side rollout as some users are seeing the feature appearing on version 10.6.240 as well. In any case, if you want to try out nudges, download the latest beta version of Google Message from the Play Store. If you're not a beta tester, you can sign up here. Alternatively, you can also grab the latest beta APK from APKMirror.

Google Messages is one of the best text messaging apps for Android. Over the past months, it has picked up several new features and improvements, including the ability to star important messages, AI-powered message sorting, auto OTP deletion, and more. It also received a Material You makeover a couple of months back, which adds a new pill-shaped search bar, a rounded rectangle floating action button, and support for Android 12's dynamic wallpaper-based theming.