Google has been working on Smart Replies for some time. We got to see a few instances of it scattered across several Google products such as Gmail and Allo. It made its way to Android Messages, albeit only for Project Fi users. Google says that they’ll roll out Smart Replies for all popular texting apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger etc. eventually (being the key word), and even have a dedicated team for it.
The result, dubbed as “Reply” only ever saw a beta release. The app aimed to bring smart reply functionality to chat/messaging apps that currently do not have it, such as Twitter, Hangouts, Facebook Messenger, Skype, Slack and Whatsapp. It works on any device running Android 7.0 and above and can be downloaded via this link. The app promises that it doesn’t retain any records of your notifications, so you don’t have to worry that Google is reading all of your messages (cough cough)
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Smart Replies use Google’s tried and tested sorcery to suggest an appropriate reply to a text. The responses are based on the contents of the conversation and get better over time. Today, a few non-Project Fi users on Reddit spotted Smart Replies popping up in their Android Messages app. The user started seeing Smart Reply in Android Messages and posted it on the Android subreddit. It was thought that the feature was only being made available for T-Mobile, but it seems that everyone will get it eventually, as several users across other networks also claimed to have received Smart Reply functionality.
image courtesy Reddit
For now, we know nothing about a large-scale rollout of Android Messages. You can try manually updating the Android Messages app to its latest version to try your luck, but we can’t make any promises. Smart Replies might seem cold and impersonal but are a life-saver in many situations where whipping out your phone to type out a full-fledged text isn’t an option.
Source: XDA developers
