Names of unknown senders in notifications

 Google Messages notifications would reveal names of unknown people who contacts you

Ever received a text message from an unknown number and wondered who was it from? Google Messages is now working on a feature to display the names of unknown senders in notifications, making it easier to identify who is contacting you. Following are the some of the important points:-

Google is working on allowing users to enable or disable profile discovery within Messages.

Names of unknown people who contact you could start showing in Google Messages notifications.

For this feature to work, those people will need to have profile discovery enabled and have the number linked to their Google account.

Google appears to be working on a feature for Messages that will tell you that person’s name in the text message notification you receive. It's unknown when the feature could roll out. This feature is currently available in the latest beta version of Google Messages. This function works, if the sender must have profile discovery enabled and their number must be linked to their Google account. Profile Discovery is a feature which allows users to share their name and profile information with others. Google is working on allowing users to enable or disable profile discovery within messages, but the setting is currently hidden by default. 

An APK teardown helps predict features that may arrive on a service in the future based on work-in-progress code. However, it is possible that such predicted features may not make it to a public release. While looking through the latest beta version of Google Messages (messages.android_20240506_01_RC00.phone_samsung_openbeta_dynamic), we discovered a change to the notification you receive whenever you get a new message. If you get a text from a number that’s not saved in your contacts list and they have profile discovery enabled, the notification will include the sender’s name. 

When you receive a message from an unknown number, the notification will show the sender's name if they have enabled profile discovery. This feature is not entirely new, as some beta users already have access to similar functionality. However, the difference now is that the names are displayed directly in the message notification. This function only works if that person has profile discovery on. To enable or disable profile discovery, you need to go to your Google account via the web. There’s a support page which explains how to do it in Google Messages, but those steps don’t work yet as the company is still working on adding the setting. The setting is available in the latest beta, but it’s hidden by default, and enabling it by modifying the APK doesn’t work.

It’s important to note that seeing a name with an unknown number isn’t necessarily new. A number of beta users have had access to something similar already. However, the difference here is that the names are now showing in message notifications. This update aims to enhance the messaging experience by providing more visibility into who is contacting you.