Google has updated its Messages app for Android phones to make it easier to interact by text message with friends and family who use iMessage on iPhones. Most notably, it has fixed a long-standing problem with emoji 'reactions'. Previously when an iOS user reacted to one of your messages with, for example, a thumbs-up emoji, you'd receive a separate message to tell you that the person 'liked' your message. Now, the Messages app will detect and display the relevant emoji in the same way as when you chat to someone on an Android device - when you tap the emoji, it will say 'Translated from iPhone'. It's a small but welcome tweak that brings the two mobile operating systems closer together. Another change lets you share your Google Photos videos with iOS users at their original quality by inserting links in your chats (see screenshot below), while YouTube videos will now display a preview in messages. Additionally, Messages will soon remind you when it's one of your contact's birthdays (if you have that information saved) and 'nudge' you to reply to messages you may have missed or that require attention. We hope the latter feature can be turned off, when it's eventually rolled out to everyone, because it sounds rather intrusive.
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