I’ve been using Google Messages for years, and for most of that time, I treated it like a basic texting app. Now, I find myself relying on them all the time, and it’s made me realize I wasn’t really using Google Messages to its full potential before. If it’s not already turned on, you can enable it by selecting your profile icon and tapping Messages settings > Voice message transcription. Starred messages help me keep track of important thingsGet quick access to important messagesCredit: Lucas Gouveia / Android Police | Damir Khabirov / ShutterstockI used to lose track of useful messages all the time in Google Messages. These Google Messages features made texting much easier than I expectedAfter I started exploring more features in Google Messages, everyday tasks took fewer steps, and I spent less time jumping between apps.