Galaxy S9

Samsung brought back the ability to assign custom ringtones to each thread on the stock Messages app.

The updated Messages app is available from Galaxy Apps.

Samsung smartphones might not be known for excellent optimization, but they include a laundry list of features. One of those features is the ability to set custom ringtones for incoming text messages. Randomly disappearing for a bit, the feature returns as an update to the Samsung Messages app, reported SamMobile.

So long as you had a Samsung smartphone running Android Nougat or older, you could set contact-specific ringtones for text messages. Other messaging apps also support the feature, but it was nice to see it in the default Messages app.

For some reason, however, Samsung pulled the feature with the Android Oreo update. The feature also disappeared on the Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus, which run Oreo out of the box. When people noticed that they could no longer set custom ringtones for messages, they flooded Samsung’s forums with at least 10 threads of complaints. One thread in particular contained over 150 pages before it was permanently closed.

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Whatever the reasoning was behind Samsung’s decision, a moderator on the company’s forums confirmed that the feature would return in a future update. Make sure to visit Galaxy Apps and grab version 4.4.30.5 of Messages. Alternatively, you can download the app’s APK and install the newest version.