What you need to know
- An APK deep dive surfaces that Google Messages’ multi-device support will soon include the option to use a user’s account (email) instead of a QR code.
- Signing into another device or the web will prompt the original device to confirm an emoji or, as an alternative, a code-based string.
- Google has also recently been spotted working on what could be proper multi-device support that could work outside of the web-based application.
Google has seemingly continued to make progress in devising a new way for users to pair their accounts for messages in other places.
Discovered by 9to5Google, an APK deep dive into the latest Google Messages beta version 20231017 has unearthed a new pairing screen. Whenever this arrives fully, users on mobile could find a screen with a “Switch to Google Account pairing” button instead (and alongside) the current QR code scanning option.
This is, of course, used when users are attempting to access their text messages through the app on the web.
When tapping the new pairing button, the screen will instruct users to head over to Messages on their computer or sign into the same account on another device.
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Beneath the instructions is a menu that will presumably drop-down, detailing a list of any paired devices in case one needs to be removed.
Going a little more in-depth into the latest version, 9to5 drudged up a new prompt to accompany this new pairing option. Apparently, after signing in on another device or on the web, Google will send a prompt to your primary device asking you to “tap the matching emoji” to confirm it’s you instead of matching a set of numbers. Apparently, there is also evidence pointing toward an alternative method to the emoji confirmation that involves a code-based system.
Lastly, if pairing has continuously failed, Google will quickly send a warning to the user, telling them to review any connected devices on their account to weed out any perpetrators.
In addition to the web-based pairing, proper multi-device support for Messages was briefly teased in September after a few strings hinting at such a feature were discovered, allowing users to pair devices via a phone number and Google account. At the time, much of what has been discovered now was only mentioned in the code, further strengthening what users could begin expecting whenever this rolls out.
However, something that was previously touched on was that this new multi-device support could arrive on Android tablets before desktop PCs. However, it’s not clear if Google has made any progress on this method.