Samsung Messages update issue (OneUI 8.5 S25 Ultra)

[SpookieGames]

Samsung Messages on my S25 Ultra is stuck on version 15.7.04.3 while my friend's S24 Ultra got a new icon with OneUI 7 and is on version 16.1.10.62. Version 16 was supposed to be released in OneUI 7 but I never got it. Version 15 is from OneUI 6.1 which the S25 Ultra never even had. Can we expect a new update with stable OneUI 8.5 release or are we permanently stuck with v15?

[SpookieGames]

We were just discussing if Samsung switched from carrier dependant RCS to Jibe RCS. My only issue is with the app itself. It's not being updated on new devices even though it's still being developed for S24 Series and older and S25 Series China and Korea.

[userEdnYNAtcp0]

Samsung messages can better organize your messages. I have a "Family" Tab, and "Friends" tab, OTP's, Professional, Work, and Reminders tabs. In Google Messages, it's hard to find the chat I want, and even use pinning (which is limited and Samsung Messages supports, too) it's still a pain to find what I'm looking for. 

Also, I can choose to send messages via group chat and easily choose to send a single message to multiple people separately without affecting past chats. This is huge when I'm trying to give updates about a parent in the hospital for example, I find group chats just get way too much chatter from people wanting to been seen with their reactions, it gets noisy. Lots of less phone buzzing if I message people individually, but then I can still craft 1 message and hit send once. In google messages, it is all or nothing. If i switch to sending messages to people individually, it will change all my group chats to be the same. Big ol' pain. 

So if Google Messages implements these things, that's fine too. I still just like to have options for those of use wanting to use Samsung, we don't always want Google's solution to things otherwise we'd have pixels, right? 

[ucancwhatic]

Have you tried finding the APK and installing it that way?

[SpookieGames]

Yes, the only APK that can be installed is from August 3rd, version 16.1.02.2. However since it has older build date than the latest v15 I'd rather not use it since there was an issue with RCS stopping from working after a week or two. 

[Tom6068]

That IS the latest version for UI 8.0 (and 8.5 beta too). The 16.1.10.62 version is form last December and was for Android 14+ versions. If anyone want to uninstall their current version and go back to the 16.1.10.62 version, go here here and download and install it from apk mirror. Note in the image below, that the version numbers do not match the order of release where the version numbers would show in numerical order. 

https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/samsung-electronics-co-ltd/samsung-messages/samsung-messages-16-1-10-6...

[SpookieGames]

The version you mentioned is from this December and is from the S24 Ultra (uploaded it myself to ApkMirror). I cannot install any other version other than 16.1.02.2, 15.7.03.9 and 15.7.04.3. It just fails and gives me error INSTALL_FAILED_REJECTED_BY_BUILDTYPE. I cannot install them unless I root my phone and disable ASKS. 

[Tom6068]

But the OP stated being stuck with the 15 version which is not for the UI 6.1. The 15.7.04.3 is the latest one according to the release date in the screenshot & provided by the galaxy store. If looking at the screenshot, even the 16s do not correspond in a numerical order that would also go along release dates.

[SpookieGames]

My problem is that v15 was released in OneUI 6 while v16 is OneUI 7 and up. The S25 Ultra is still stuck on v15. v16 brought new UI and icon. Yes, the version 15.7.04.3 is the current latest version from Galaxy Store however it should be 16.1.x.x in OneUI 7/8 and 16.2.x.x in OneUI 8.5. Even Samsung Messages on my Galaxy Watch 7 got the new icon and is version 16.x.x.x.

[MsVirgo87]

I have v16 through apk and it works just fine for me

[SpookieGames]

That's fine but from this it seems that v15 will be the last official version available from Galaxy Store and the v16 apk was a one-time leak (hope not).