Google Messages 'Nudges' feature removed for unknown reasons

In recent weeks, Google Messages has been receiving multiple new features, in addition to having some others in development, but now there are users reporting that the ‘Nudges’ feature was removed in the latest app update for them.

‘Nudges’ is the name given by Google Messages to a machine-learning-powered reminder system focused on two main aspects: reminding you to reply to a conversation, and reminding you of your contacts’ birthdays. It is especially useful if you are a very busy person or if you simply have a bad memory.

However, some users report that, after the latest Google Messages app update, the ‘Nudges’ feature was removed from the settings with no apparent explanation.

It’s notable that this issue is not exactly new, since there have been similar reports for weeks, although these mainly arose from users of Google Messages beta version. However, there are now reports of people complaining about the removal of the ‘Nudges’ feature from the stable version as well.

In our personal testing, the ‘Nudges’ feature is missing from the latest Google Messages beta update on a Google Pixel 7a, but is still present on two other Pixel devices running the latest stable app update.

So, it’s possible that Google has been experimenting with possibly removing the feature in the Google Messages beta, and is now slowly rolling out the change to the stable channel. That said, this is just speculation with no official confirmation at the moment, so take it with a grain of salt.

Sadly, there is currently no workaround to help recover the Google Messages ‘Nudges’ feature in the stable version, since what those affected previously recommended was to leave the beta program. That said, you could try manually installing an older version of the app as a potential fix. You can get old versions safely from APK Mirror.

Google is known for being merciless with options or features that they believe are not used enough to maintain them. We have to wait to find out if this is one of those cases, or if we are facing some type of bug that needs to be resolved.