Comparison

Google Meet vs Messages

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Google Meet

Connect with friends, family, and colleagues through high-quality video calls and meetings. Schedule calls, send video messages, or join spontaneous conversations. Enhance interactions with features like real-time captions, in-call chat, and engaging effects.

Highlights
  • High-quality video calls
  • Scheduled meetings
  • Video messages
  • Real-time translated captions
  • In-call chat
  • Screen sharing
  • Stackable effects
Features
Read full description

Google Meet is a high-quality video calling app designed to help you have meaningful and fun interactions with your friends, family, colleagues, and classmates, wherever they are. Meet lets you connect in whatever way works for you: Call someone spontaneously, schedule time together, or send a video message that they can watch and respond to later. Meet also helps you get things done. It integrates with other Google Workspace apps like Gmail, Docs, Slides, and Calendar, and offers a number of features to help you run smooth and engaging meetings, like noise cancellation, in-call chat, recordings, and more.* Features to look forward to: Make spontaneous calls or host video meetings with your friends and colleagues, all in one app. Enjoy one-on-one video calls for up to 24 hours and host meetings for up to 60 minutes and 100 people at no cost. Follow along in your preferred language with real-time translated captions in over 70 languages. Use in-call chat to share ideas, ask questions, or provide feedback without interrupting the flow of the conversation. Make your calls more engaging with in-call emojis that allow you to express yourself seamlessly without interrupting the conversation. Share visuals like photos, videos, and presentations during your call to collaborate or simply share memories from your recent vacation. Make your calls with family and friends more fun with stackable effects that allow participants to add multiple backgrounds, filters, and animations, to create a personalized experience. Use on-the-go mode for an audio-only experience with larger call controls, making it easier to take calls with fewer distractions while walking, driving, or using public transportation. Access on any device: Meet works across mobile, tablet, web, and smart devices,** so everyone can join. High quality video: Show up looking your best with up to 4k video quality video***. Learn more about Google Meet: https://workspace.google.com/products/meet/ Follow us for more: Twitter: https://twitter.com/googleworkspace Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/googleworkspace Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/googleworkspace/ *Meeting recording, noise cancellation are available as premium features. See https://workspace.google.com/pricing.html for more details **Not available in every language. ***Bandwidth permitting. Google Meet automatically adjusts to the highest video quality possible based on your bandwidth. Data charges may apply. Check your carrier for details. Specific feature availability may vary based on device specifications.

About

Messages

Communicate with contacts through unlimited texts, photos, videos, and documents. Supports iMessage for Apple devices and RCS, SMS, and MMS for others. Features include message editing, unsending, and scheduling.

Highlights
  • Send unlimited texts, photos, videos, and documents
  • iMessage, RCS, SMS, and MMS support
  • Edit and unsend messages
  • Schedule messages
  • Message effects and stickers
  • Group chat features
  • Messages in iCloud
Features
Read full description

Stay connected to the people and conversations that matter most. Send unlimited texts, photos, videos, documents, and more to any iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, or visionOS device with iMessage, or use it to send RCS, SMS, and MMS messages. Features • Send texts, photos, videos, audio messages, documents, stickers, Memoji, polls, and more to contacts using their phone number or Apple Account. • Send Messages via satellite* to stay connected with friends and family even when you are without cellular or Wi-Fi connection. • Automatically translate incoming texts, including group messages.* • On-device spam detection filters out spam from your conversations list. • Opt-in to screen messages from unknown numbers. • Tapback with any emoji or sticker for a quick reply to express what you think about a message. • Add effects to your messages like animated text effects, full-screen effects, and bubble effects to bring your conversations to life. • Schedule a message to send at a specified time with Send Later. • Your name and photo, or even Memoji, can be shared with your friends. • Edit any message for up to 15 minutes after sending it. Recipients will be able to see a record of edits made to the message. • Unsend any message for up to 2 minutes after sending it. • Mark as unread when you don’t have time to respond but want to be sure to reply to the sender later. • Name a group and add a photo to personalize the group conversation. • Mentions let you direct a message to an individual in a group conversation. • Inline replies let you reply to a specific message and see all related messages in their own view. • Pin conversations to keep up to nine of your favorite message threads at the top of the list. • iMessage apps let you quickly share photos, recently played music, stickers, GIFs, Apple Cash*, and more right from Messages. • Start a Check In with a family member or friend to let them know when you’ve arrived at a destination or set up a Check In for a time duration. • Use Messages in iCloud to keep your entire message history updated and available on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro, even when you set up a brand-new device. • SharePlay via Messages lets you share synchronized activities like movies, music, workouts, games and more while chatting with friends in Messages. • Shared with You shows content sent to you by friends in Messages conversations in a section in Photos, Safari, News*, Music*, Podcasts, or the TV app* • Collaboration lets you invite others to collaborate on a file via Messages and shares activity updates in the thread when someone makes an edit to a shared project. Apple Watch Features • Quickly read and respond to incoming messages. • Use smart replies, dictation, audio messages, stickers, #images*, Memoji, polls, or the QWERTY keyboard (Apple Watch Series 7 or later models). • Automatically translate incoming texts, including group messages.* • Start a Check In with a family member or friend to let them know when you’ve arrived at a destination or set up a Check In for a time duration. • Pin conversations to keep your favorite message threads at the top of the list. • Save photos, audio messages and videos from your messages. • Ask Siri to send a message to your contacts. • Respond to a specific message inline to keep conversations organized. • Send, receive, and request money with Apple Pay*. • Mute or delete conversations. * Not available in all regions.

Screenshots

Google Meet4 screens
Messages4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Google Meet at 4.8 against Messages's 4.1. Google Meet also leads on update cadence (weekly vs every 6 months) and ratings volume (2.3M vs 39K). Messages's advantage is monetization model (free vs freemium) and device support (5 vs 2). On price, review sentiment, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Google Meet holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 4.1. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Google Meet has 2.3M ratings behind it against 39K, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews split almost evenly too, at 46% and 45% positive.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Google Meet ships an update weekly, Messages every 6 months. Both last shipped on October 21, 2026.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Google Meet versus Messages: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterGoogle MeetMessages
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.8 (2.3M ratings) — better4.1 (39K ratings)
Positive reviews45.7% of reviews — better45.5% of reviews
Number of ratings2.3M — better39K
Update frequencyWeekly — betterEvery 6 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNoNo
MonetizationFreemiumFree — better
Best chart rank#9 — better—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Apple Watch, Vision Pro — better
Requires iOS18.010.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size607 MB9 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperGoogleApple

Customer experience

Google Meet

All ratings2,332,688 ratings
Positive94.5%
Neutral3.4%
Negative2.1%
Written reviews1,419 reviews
Positive45.7%
Neutral9.8%
Negative44.5%

Messages

All ratings39,067 ratings
Positive75.3%
Neutral6.1%
Negative18.6%
Written reviews4,932 reviews
Positive45.5%
Neutral12.5%
Negative42.0%

User reviews

Google Meet

From 2.3M App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Easy to use
  • 🚀 High-quality video and audio
  • 💡 Cross-platform compatibility
  • 🤝 Allows communication with non-iPhone users
  • 😊 Overall positive experience

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Frequent freezing and disconnections
  • 🔋 High battery drain
  • 🔇 Audio issues like echoes and delays
  • 📵 Inability to use without a phone number
  • 🤔 Confusing UI and limited features compared to competitors

Messages

From 39K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast and reliable messaging
  • 🔒 End-to-end encryption
  • 👍 Seamless integration with Apple devices
  • 💡 Fun features like Memoji and stickers
  • 🤝 Easy group chat management

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional bugs and glitches
  • 🔍 Limited search functionality
  • 📤 Inability to delete messages for others
  • 🔔 Lack of typing indicators in group chats
  • 📱 Incompatibility with non-Apple devices

Bugs and requests

Google Meet

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Video freezes when moving away from WiFi
  • Inability to answer calls or end them properly
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching between apps

Requested features

4 requests
  • Add screen sharing capability
  • Implement group chat and texting features
  • Allow customization of user profiles and group chats
  • Improve compatibility with older devices and operating systems

Messages

Reported bugs

4 issues
  • Messages not delivering consistently
  • App crashing or freezing on launch
  • Issues with iCloud sync and message history
  • Problems with location sharing and privacy

Requested features

5 requests
  • Ability to schedule messages
  • Option to lock specific conversations
  • More customization options for Memoji
  • Improved voice message functionality
  • Expanded reaction/emoji options

In-app purchases

None

Google Meet

No in-app purchases

None

Messages

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Google Meet free?
Google Meet is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is Messages free?
Messages is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Google Meet or Messages?
Google Meet is rated higher. Google Meet averages 4.8 out of 5 from 2.3M ratings, while Messages averages 4.1 from 39K ratings.
Do Google Meet or Messages have ads?
Neither Google Meet nor Messages shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Google Meet or Messages?
Google Meet ships an update weekly, and Messages every 6 months. Most recently, Google Meet was updated on October 21, 2026 and Messages on October 21, 2026.

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