žGoogle Messages is the official messaging platform for the Android ecosystem used by millions around the world. Everyone has had the problem where you receive a message from an unknown sender, whose name you wish to find out without having to explicitly ask. An APK teardown by Android Authority has revealed that Messages may soon show you the name of an unknown sender in your notifications. Do note that this info comes from a beta version of Google Messages, it’s still not live by any means.
Messages will show you the names of unknown senders in the notifications
It is reported that in the latest beta version of Google Messages, Google is modifying the way notifications for new messages work. Now, if you get a message from an unknown number, Google will attach the name of the sender to the phone number.
According to screenshots from Android Authority, Messages will show you the phone number of the unknown sender. That will appear alongside the profile name. Showing the names of unknown senders isn’t exactly new in Google Messages. The platform is just expanding this functionality by bringing it to the notifications to Android.
This feature only works if the other side consents
While this feature is great, it requires consent from the unknown sender’s end for this to work. So you can see the names of unknown senders only if the sender has “profile discovery” turned on. If you want to hide your profile name when sending messages to new contacts, simply turn off profile discovery.
Setting up profile discovery only works on the web version of Google Messages at the moment. Profile discovery allows you to connect your profile photo and name with Google Messages. In the settings of your Google Account, there’s a section labeled “Personal Info” where you can conveniently update your profile details.