Google Messages @mentions finally give RCS group chats the upgrade they need

For years, Android fans have watched friends on WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger casually ping each other in group chats with @mentions while Google Messages quietly lagged behind. That gap is finally starting to close.

A small group of beta users has spotted a new @mentions feature inside Google Messages, hinting that Google is almost ready to give its default messaging app the modern group-chat tools users have been asking for.

The idea is simple but powerful. When you are typing in a group conversation, you can now type the @ symbol in the message field. As soon as you do, Google Messages surfaces a list of people who are part of that specific RCS chat. Tap the name of the person you want to address, and their name is inserted into the text box as an @mention. It behaves very much like what you are used to in other messaging platforms, but with one crucial twist: the person you tag receives a special notification even if they have muted the group's regular alerts.

That extra notification is the entire point of @mentions. Group chats can be noisy, and most of us mute them sooner or later. But every now and then, there is an important message that really does need someone's attention: a confirmation from one colleague, a quick answer from a family member, or a decision from the only friend who has the keys. With @mentions active, you can pull that person back into the conversation without spamming everyone else or resorting to all-caps shouting.

Privacy has not been completely ignored either. After picking the person you want to tag from the suggestion list, you can edit how their name appears in the message. That means you can trim a full legal name down to a first name, a nickname, or something more anonymous so you are not exposing someone's full contact card to everyone in the thread. It is a small detail, but in mixed groups of friends, family, classmates, or co-workers, it matters.

Right now, this new capability is only showing up for a handful of users who are on recent beta builds. One tester reports seeing @mentions on a Samsung device running an open beta labeled 20251103 rc00, with Google Messages version 20251103_00_RC00. Interestingly, the same person does not see the feature on their Pixel 6 Pro running Android 16 QPR2 Beta 3.3, even though they are also enrolled in the Messages beta there. That strongly suggests Google is flipping a server-side switch for limited accounts rather than rolling it out purely through app updates.

There is another important limitation: @mentions in Google Messages are currently tied to RCS chats only. If your group conversation is still using legacy SMS or MMS, the feature simply will not appear. That lines up with Google's broader strategy of pushing RCS as the modern messaging standard on Android, with read receipts, typing indicators, higher-quality media, and now, richer group features layered on top. If anyone in your group does not support RCS, you might see the chat quietly fall back to basic SMS and lose these smarter tools.

Compared to the competition, Google is late but not too late. WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Telegram have all relied on @mentions for years as a way to tame chaotic group chats. It is no surprise that the reaction from Android users, especially on Reddit, has been a mix of relief and mild frustration. One commenter summed up the mood perfectly with a short line that could have been written by half the user base: "About time." Others joke that every new little feature in Messages is like Google discovering the "ability to print money," because the more pleasant the app becomes, the more people stay deep inside its ecosystem.

From the user's perspective, the practical benefits are straightforward. Once this feature lands on your device, the workflow will be instinctive: open a group chat in Google Messages, type @, choose the person you want, optionally tweak how their name looks, and send. In their inbox, that conversation will show a subtle @ badge, and the tagged person will see from the notification that a message is specifically directed at them. It is a small visual cue that makes a big difference when you are flicking through dozens of chats.

If you have an Android phone and want to be ready when @mentions reach your account, you need to be using the official Google Messages app. Many phones ship with it preinstalled, but some still default to a manufacturer’s own messaging client. You can download Google Messages from the Play Store, set it as your default SMS and RCS app, and make sure you are on the latest stable or beta version available to your device. Even then, you may have to wait for Google's server-side rollout, but at least your setup will be compatible when the switch flips.

In everyday life, this feature could quickly become one of those tools you do not think about but rely on constantly. Parents pinging a specific child in the family chat, roommates chasing one person about the bills, sports teams calling out the goalkeeper, project groups nudging a single teammate for an update – all of these small interactions become smoother when you can direct your message at exactly the right person without waking up everyone else’s phone.

For now, @mentions in Google Messages are a glimpse of where Google wants its messaging platform to go: less like a basic SMS inbox and more like a full-featured, cross-device chat experience that can stand shoulder to shoulder with the most popular apps in the world. It is still early, the rollout is limited, and there will probably be tweaks before it reaches the masses. But once @mentions arrive for all RCS group chats, it will be hard to remember how chaotic those conversations used to feel without them.