Android users who are jealous of iMessage need to know about Google's 'Messages for web' service, which lets you text from almost any computer
Antonio Villas-Boas/Business Insider
Google's Messages for web service, which lets you send and receive text messages that you normally get on your Android phone, has greatly improved since its launch in 2018.
It helps bridge the gap between Apple's excellent iMessage ecosystem and Android.
Messages for web works on Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft's Edge, and even Safari.
Unlike Apple's iMessage, Messages for web works on any computer, even a Mac, as it works from a web browser.
Back in the middle of 2018, Google rolled out a web service called "Messages for web," which was designed to let you send and receive text messages in a tab on your web browser.
At launch, Messages for web wasn't very good. It worked, but it wasn't very reliable. Several texts didn't send properly, and I missed a bunch of text messages, too. It clearly wasn't the solution that would bring the iMessage functionality to the Android ecosystem, and I gave it up pretty quickly.
Fast forward to late 2019 when I recently started using Messages for web again, and I can gleefully report that it's actually pretty good now. I can send and receive photos, videos, GIFs, emoji, sticker, and good old-fashioned text messages, as well as group messages almost entirely reliably. There's only been a couple instances where a message didn't send, but I'm attributing that to the fact that I have Messages on at least a half-dozen computers at the moment.
It's well worth checking out whether you tried it around launch time and dropped, like I did, or if this is the first time you're hearing about it.
Messages for web works on Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and even Apple's Safari web browser. Since Messages works in a web browser, even Android users who use Apple computers can use it, too.
It also seems to work pretty well when I switch between all the computers I'm testing and using. Occasionally, I'll get a notification asking me if I want to "Use Messages for web here?" when I switch computers, and simply clicking "Use here" syncs all my messages.
Still, it's a great start to getting the Android ecosystem on par with Apple's, even if it was a little rocky at first. And I wouldn't be surprised if some kind of calling feature makes its way to Messages for web in the future.
It's incredibly easy to set up. Here's how to do it:
First up, click the link below on your computer to get to the Messages for web site.
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Click here to get to the Messages for web login page.
Then, on the Google Messages app on your Android phone, tap the Messages for web option in the menu on the top right.
Business InsiderTap the "QR code scanner" option, and line up the square on your phone's screen with the QR code on your computer's screen.
Business InsiderAnd you're done! You should see all your text messages that you've sent and received in the Google Messages app on your Android phone.
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