Google has added an important new ability to Google Messages, giving users the option to easily unsubscribe from businesses text messages.

More and more businesses are relying on text messages to send alerts, remind customers of appointments, try to upsell them on services, and more. Unfortunately, these text messages can inundate users under the best of circumstances and become outright spam under the worst of circumstances.

Google is working to address this, rolling out the Unsubscribe feature that it has been testing for some time.

Unsubscribe from business senders in Google Messages

If a business sends you unwanted messages in Google Messages, like promotions and other non-essential content, you can unsubscribe from them.

• To facilitate the unsubscribe process, Google Messages sends a “STOP” message to the sender from your number.
• After the “STOP” message is sent, you should no longer receive non-essential messages from that sender.
• You may still receive essential, requested messages from them after unsubscribing, like one-time passwords or boarding passes requested from that business or confirmation of your unsubscribe request with information to further manage your communication preferences.
• If a business is unable to comply with your unsubscribe request because you’ve elected to stop receiving messages in your account, the business may instead redirect you to account settings to change your message notifications through your account.

The company outlines how the new feature works.

• Open Google Messages .
• Open the conversation with the business you want to unsubscribe from.
• In the conversation menu, tap Unsubscribe.

• The “Unsubscribe” option might also appear at the bottom of the conversation.
• Select why you want to unsubscribe from that sender.
• For RCS for Business conversations, this information is shared only as aggregated statistics with the carrier and the sender.
• If you select “Spam,” you get the option to report the sender.

-Learn how to block senders and report spam in Google Messages.

• To unsubscribe from that sender, tap Unsubscribe or Unsubscribe & report.

Customers that want to completely unsubscribe from a business can still “Block & report” the communication.

If a user wants to re-subscribe, they can follow these steps.

• Open Google Messages .
• Open the conversation with the business you want to subscribe to again.
• In the conversation menu, tap Subscribe.

• The “Subscribe” option might also appear at the bottom of the conversation.

The new feature is a welcome addition that will give users more control over their text messages and cut down on annoyances.