Google may soon start displaying names of unknown text senders in notifications

If you don’t like the element of surprise when someone whose number you don’t have saved texts you, Google might be working on a new Messages feature for you.

While all it takes to uncover the identity of an unknown sender is a simple “Who is this?” text, it would be so much more convenient if you didn’t have to do that. And now, Google seems to have a new feature in the works that will display the name of the person messaging you in the text notification.

When exploring the latest beta version of Google Messages, Android Authority stumbled upon a change to how notifications are displayed for numbers that are not saved in the contacts list.

Apparently, if the message sender has turned Profile discovery on, Google will show you their name in the notification.

The feature is not new in the sense that many beta users already had a similar feature that let them see the name of an unknown sender. The difference is that the name will now be shown in message notifications.

Keep in mind that just because the beta version of the app hints at the feature, it doesn’t mean it will be added to Google Messages for sure.

Even if Google does plan on rolling it out, it will only work for with users who have enabled profile discovery, which can be done by signing into the Google account on the web. Profile discovery was announced late last year and Google started rolling it out on a wide scale only recently, allowing users to set account-level names for profiles associated with their phone numbers.

In addition to being useful when you get a message from an unknown number, it will also help avoid confusion in group chats with lots of participants.