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

Wish you could know who that unknown sender who just contacted you out of the blue is? Google appears to be working on a feature for Messages that will tell you that person’s name in the text message notification you receive.

While looking through the latest beta version of Google Messages (messages.android_20240506_01_RC00.phone_samsung_openbeta_dynamic), we discovered a change to the notification you receive whenever you get a new message. If you get a text from a number that’s not saved in your contacts list and they have profile discovery enabled, that notification will include the sender’s name. You can see an example in the picture below.

Unfortunately, this function only works if that person has profile discovery on. To enable or disable profile discovery, you need to go to your Google account via the web. There’s a support page that explains how to do it in Google Messages, but those steps don’t work yet as the company is still working on adding the setting. That setting is available in the latest beta, but it’s hidden by default, and enabling it by modifying the APK doesn’t work.

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