Google Messages notifications will show the names of unknown people who contact you

Would you like to know who this unknown sender is who just contacted you out of the blue? Google appears to be working on a feature for Messages that will show you that person’s name in the SMS notification you receive.

While browsing the latest Google Messages beta (messages.android_20240506_01_RC00.phone_samsung_openbeta_dynamic), we discovered a change in the notification you receive every time you receive a new message. If you receive a text message from a number that is not saved in your contacts list and profile discovery is enabled, this notification will include the sender’s name. You can see an example in the image below.

Unfortunately, this feature only works if that person has profile discovery enabled. To enable or disable profile discovery, you must access your Google account via the web. There is a support page that explains how to do this in Google Messages, but these steps don’t work yet because the company is still working on adding the setting. This setting is available in the latest beta, but it is hidden by default and enabling it by editing the APK does not work.

It is important to note that seeing a name with an unknown number is not necessarily new. A number of beta users have already had access to something similar. However, the difference here is that names now appear in message notifications.