Missing Google Messages reminders and Google Photos upload

The Google Messages has added a number of new features in recent weeks, but some users are currently missing existing ones – message reminders and upload video via Google Photos – in what we hope are bugs rather than permanent removals.

In 2019, Google added the ability to long press a message to set a reminder with several preset increments or launch a full date and time picker. Some users, including several beta cases which we checked today, there is no longer an alarm clock icon in the toolbar.

However, those without this tracking option still have the “1 Hour Reminder” shortcut in their incoming notifications, as well as the Google Messages settings associated with it.

Meanwhile, some users are also missing the Google Photos integration that allows you to upload videos to cloud and send them as links to avoid the low quality nature of SMS/MMS. The settings page introduced in 2022 is completely missing.

Both of these removals seem accidental rather than intentional. There's no point in removing reminders in just one place, while it's certainly a simple and popular feature. The Google Photos feature is still a good idea for both the messaging service and the backup service. (At one point, Google also supported image uploading for even deeper integration that would let you centralize sharing.) While RCS allows for higher-quality media, Photos lets you share in full fidelity.

These regressions are more likely to be bugs compared to how the home screen redesign removed the message organization, which some users still miss.