17

Version 17 is a bugfix and polish release. It stops old unread messages from bringing back a "more conversations with new messages" notification, brings spell-checking back to the message field, keeps voice recordings when you leave a conversation, keeps blocked and archived conversations across a rebuild of Messaging's database, marks senders you can't reply to and fixes a round of recipient picker issues.

Messages and notifications

• Old unread messages no longer bring back a "more conversations with new messages" notification whenever a message arrives: opening the conversation list at the top drops them from that count while leaving them unread
• Messages you had already read in another SMS app are no longer treated as new when Messaging imports them, so switching to Messaging doesn't notify about them
• Senders that can't receive replies, such as businesses sending from a name instead of a number, show "You can't reply to this sender" in place of the message box, and their notifications no longer offer a reply action
• Numbers that arrive without a country code on a SIM from another country now match the right contact, so a conversation and its participant list show the same name
• Numbers an earlier version stored without a country code are corrected the next time Messaging syncs its messages with the system, so their conversations show the right contact too

Conversation list

• Select all in the selection menu, so every conversation can be marked as read at once
• Unread conversations are shown in bold so they stand out from read ones
• Deleting several conversations shows one message with the result instead of one per conversation
• Deleting a conversation that only holds a draft is reported as a success instead of a failure

Conversations

• A snoozed conversation shows a snooze icon next to its title
• Archiving a conversation from inside it or from its settings offers Undo; in shortcut and bubble windows, the conversation stays open and offers Undo there
• The message field spell-checks again
• Backspacing after picking a keyboard suggestion no longer deletes the space before the word
• Voice typing and accessibility services can send from the message field, while Enter still adds a new line
• Adding people to a conversation carries its unsent text, subject, and attachments, such as a shared photo or link, into the new conversation
• Now keeping the fragment of tapped message links instead of cutting the URL off at the hash character

Voice messages

• Leaving the conversation screen while recording, by turning off the screen, switching apps, or opening another screen, keeps the recording as a draft attachment instead of discarding it, and stops using the microphone
• Sliding diagonally to cancel a recording no longer locks it instead
• Tapping a voice message that failed to send resends it instead of playing it
• Message details show a voice message's real length instead of 00:00

Recipient picker

• Contacts and the Next button on the new chat and add people screens stay clear of the navigation bar and keyboard
• When a search has a single match, the keyboard's Go key adds it as a recipient
• Search results that arrive late no longer overwrite what you typed
• Typing after tapping the start of the field no longer breaks the search
• The search hint appears in one piece instead of word by word
• A typed number gets an avatar based on the number instead of the "Send to" text
• The "To" label is translated
• Phone numbers stay left to right in right-to-left languages

Database and backups

• Blocked senders and archived conversations no longer come back into the inbox when an update or downgrade rebuilds Messaging's database: Messaging now keeps that state outside the database and restores it once it has re-read the messages stored by the system, retrying if a full disk cuts the first attempt short; state an earlier version already lost this way isn't recovered
• Backups and device-to-device transfers no longer include Messaging's database, which Messaging rebuilds from the messages stored by the system; archived, blocked, and pinned state and unsent drafts are not carried over to a new device
• When Messaging's database is rebuilt, including after moving to a new device, new conversations no longer inherit the notification settings, snooze, SIM choice, shortcut, or widget of an old one

Platform and dependencies

• Removed the unused AOSP chips library
• Removed the stale libphonenumber submodule entry

Updates to dependencies:

• Kotlin 2.4.21
• Gradle 9.8.1
• Guava 33.7.2
• libphonenumber 9.0.41
• Navigation 3 1.2.0

Full changelog

A full list of changes from the previous release (version 16) is available through the Git commit log between the releases.