There was certainly an era when receiving a message from a business felt exciting, but that sentiment has changed dramatically. Nowadays, the constant alerts from our smartphones can be overwhelming, particularly due to the surge of unsolicited messages.

Many of these texts arrive as a result of your phone number landing on a company’s subscriber list, often from seemingly innocent interactions. Maybe you once donated blood and now find yourself bombarded with reminders to schedule your next donation; perhaps a charitable contribution to a political candidate has led to an endless stream of fundraising messages.

Fortunately, many organizations allow you to opt-out by sending a STOP text, but this option may not always be clear. That’s where Google Messages comes into play with a recent, yet subtle enhancement that could greatly benefit countless Android users seeking to reduce unnecessary notifications.

Unsubscribe to Stop Receiving Messages

As highlighted by Mishaal Rahman from Android Authority, this new functionality was spotted while he interacted with Google Messages. After receiving a text from AMC Theaters confirming tickets for an event, Rahman found that this message was redundant—after all, he likely had confirmation via email and within the AMC app, making this third notification unnecessary and distracting.

Typically, a message like this would be swiftly deleted with a sigh of annoyance; however, this time, Google Messages introduced a helpful option: “Unsubscribe to stop receiving messages.” By clicking this link, a menu appeared, prompting Rahman to indicate his reason for opting out, which included five predefined choices:

• Not signed up
• Too many messages
• No longer interested
• Spam
• Other

The first three options are fixed, providing no room for further comments. However, selecting “Spam” unlocks an additional checkbox labeled “Report this sender,” granting users the choice to either report the sender to Google Messages or simply acknowledge it as spam without negative consequences. Opting for “Other” opens a text box for providing more details on the reason for unsubscribing if desired.

Regardless of the choice made from those five options, tapping “Unsubscribe & report” will prompt Google Messages to dispatch a STOP text to the originating source, ensuring the user is removed from future communications.

The feature is currently available for messages sent from “short codes,” which are typically five or six digits long. Such numbers are commonly associated with subscription texts instead of standard ten-digit phone numbers. Google has also confirmed that this function will extend to RCS Business Messages and will first be accessible to users enrolled in the Google Messages beta. Until the full rollout occurs, businesses must include a dedicated unsubscribe link for users who request to opt out.

This upgrade might not reach every smartphone immediately, but it will eventually become widespread. The next time an unsolicited message appears on your Android device, pay attention to the bottom of the conversation. If the option isn’t visible, you can still send a quick STOP text; it’s likely to yield similar results.