Google is secretly trying out @mentions in the Google Messages beta, providing RCS group chats a method familiar to those using other messaging apps that lets you tag someone directly. The feature is, however, live for some early testers, though its availability, at least for now, seems to be limited and controlled by a server-side switch.
It’s a modest addition with outsize influence: mentions help cut through busy threads, make coordination easier, and bring Messages closer to parity with WhatsApp, Telegram, and iMessage, where tagging is already table stakes.
What Mentions Do in Google Messages Group Chats
With a supported group chat, tapping the @ symbol brings up an autocomplete list of participants. Select a contact, keep typing as you normally would, and your message will feature a highlighted tag. Testers add that you can shorten the visible name after it’s selected—dropping a last name, for example—without breaking the mention underneath.
When you are tagged by someone, Messages places an @ badge next to the conversation in your inbox so you can recognize threads that may be relevant to you.
It’s unclear if there’s an option to notify “mentions only,” a popular feature in other chat apps that cuts down on alert exhaustion.
The feature is already part of RCS group threads, which also feature some modern functions like typing indicators, reactions, and message editing. Mentions are probably not going to be supported in SMS/MMS threads since they won’t carry rich metadata like those legacy standards.
Why It’s a Big Deal for RCS and Group Chats
Mentions are not just a convenience—they are also a productivity shortcut.
In massive group chats—family planning, rec leagues, class projects—tagging the right person can speed up responses and help prevent the “everyone gets pinged” problem. This is something workplace platforms such as Slack and Microsoft Teams normalized years ago—now it’s spread to consumer messaging.
For Google, it’s another move to mature RCS as the default rich messaging layer on Android. The company has publicly announced it has more than 1B monthly active RCS users, and work on end-to-end encryption for 1:1 and group messages is rolling out to devices. Now that Apple has decided to support RCS in iOS, cross-platform group chats will have some of the features that perform the same no matter what phone brand you use.
Importantly, mentions dovetail with the ability to control notifications. In apps where “mentions-only” notifications are an option, users get fewer distracting interruptions and save engagement for posts that actually require attention. Should Google introduce a similar toggle, it could help legitimately boost signal-to-noise in busy threads.
What Testers Are Finding So Far in Early Trials
Redditors on the Google Messages subreddit have reported their discovery of the feature live in action on current Pixel hardware with the latest beta app. Since availability probably depends on a server flag, two people with the same app version might witness different behavior, which is typical for Google’s staged rollouts.
“Beyond the tagging flow and inbox badge, I don’t see evidence of @mentions settings granularity yet—e.g., per-thread controls, role-based tagging,” @_for_the_people tweeted. That could change in a hurry—Google often ships the basic UI first, then layers on preferences as the feature scales to work for more people.
How to Tell If You Have Mentions Enabled Already
Join the beta for Google Messages in the Play Store, update to the most recent build, and then open any RCS group chat. Start with an @ and you should see a participant picker. If you see nothing, you probably aren’t part of the current wave; unfortunately, in such cases, you’re just going to have to wait it out because server-side rollout timing is not something that users can control.
Make sure you’ve turned on RCS in Messages settings, and keep Google Play services updated. Things like mentions typically have multiple components that need to both be present, even if it’s being gated under a backend flag.
What Comes Next for Mentions in Google Messages
Look out for a bigger push toward the beta, more granular notification controls per mention, and visual tweaks such as clearer highlighting within long threads. As RCS adoption increases and cross-platform availability improves, the threshold for group messaging is climbing—and Google is making it clear that it plans to keep up.
If the firm adheres to its standard release timeline, rollout will widen gradually before dropping in the stable channel. In the meantime, beta testers are now giving the world its first peek at a small but important upgraded feature that promises to tame unruly Android group chats in a big way.