Google’s given a fresh lick of paint to many of its own Android apps for Lollipop, while others have been completely rebuilt from the ground up. One of those is Messenger, which replaces the aging Messaging hub and breathes new life into traditional text messaging.

Not only does Messenger look terrific — thanks to its Material Design… design — but it delivers a number of features you don’t normally find inside SMS messaging clients. For example, Messenger lets you add attachments (pictures and videos) to your messages, block SMS senders, and allows you to send audio messages.

Messenger also has a powerful search function for those who like to hold onto their SMS conversations for life, offers colored text threads, and has full support for emoji. And did I mention that it looks great?

What’s nice about Messenger is that you don’t need to wait for your Lollipop update to get your hands on it. It’s available to download right now from Google Play, and it’s compatible with any device running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and above.

• Google Play StoreMessenger