Google has announced a couple of security upgrades for its texting app, Messages. It can now detect and block suspicious links, and adds a way to verify your contacts.
The first of these two features is Safer links. It is a scam link blocker that detects when a message may contain a link from spammers. In order to protect users from malware that could steal their identity, Google Messages will display a pop-up warning that says "Link Blocked. This message was flagged as likely spam." Users can close the warning to get back to safety. If you think that a message was falsely detected as spam, you can tap on "not spam" to unlock the link. Google says that scam link blocking is now available for all Google Messages users worldwide.
The other security feature that has been added to Google Messages is called Key Verifier. This was originally announced in May 2025, but was only launched yesterday. As the name suggests, this feature is used to verify the identity of a contact. Scammers often impersonate other people, including persons whom you may know, or have been in contact with. If their device is stolen, lost or was a victim of a SIM swap attack, you may not know it, and believe you are talking with your contact. Such attacks have been used to spy on people.
Key Verifier is designed to prevent such impersonation, this RCS feature uses public key verification, to improve the security of end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) messaging apps. It allows users to verify each other's identity by scanning their respective QR codes, to verify the keys. So you can scan your contact's QR code, and ask them to do the same, to ensure you are talking to the right person on the other end.
Keys can change when your contact moves to a new device, or replaces their SIM card, or when the key's time-bound validity expires, or if the underlying encryption protocol is upgraded. Google warns that SIM Swapping and Man-in-the-middle attacks could also cause contact's keys to change. Either way, you'll know when that happens.
Key Verifier is available for devices running Android 10 and above. You will need the latest Google Contacts, Google Messages, and the Android System Key Verifier apps to use the feature. You can learn more about it at the official support page.
Earlier this year, Google Messages had introduced an unsubscribe button to combat spam. Yesterday, Google unveiled a new way to recover user accounts with the help of Recovery Contacts. Users may also unlock their account using the mobile number that was associated with their Google Account.
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