diff --git a/apps/messages/ChangeLog b/apps/messages/ChangeLog
index 262cba1fa..0b3cb276d 100644
--- a/apps/messages/ChangeLog
+++ b/apps/messages/ChangeLog
@@ -66,4 +66,5 @@
 0.50: Add `getMessages` and `status` functions to library
       Option to disable auto-open of messages
       Option to make message icons monochrome (not colored)
-      messages widget buzz now returns a promise
\ No newline at end of file
+      messages widget buzz now returns a promise
+0.51: Emit "message events"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/apps/messages/README.md b/apps/messages/README.md
index 2e583d1c2..0ef783188 100644
--- a/apps/messages/README.md
+++ b/apps/messages/README.md
@@ -56,6 +56,19 @@ _2. What the notify icon looks like (it's touchable on Bangle.js2!)_
 ![](screenshot-notify.gif)
 
 
+## Events (for app/widget developers)
+
+When a new message arrives, a `"message"` event is emitted, you can listen for
+it like this:
+
+```js
+myMessageListener = Bangle.on("message", (type, message)=>{
+  // <type> is one of "text", "call", "alarm", "map", or "music"
+  // see `messages/lib.js` for possible <message> formats 
+  E.showMessage(`${message.title}\n${message.body}`, `${message.t} ${type} message`);
+});
+```
+
 
 ## Requests
 
diff --git a/apps/messages/lib.js b/apps/messages/lib.js
index 50e14a07b..3e8ff64dd 100644
--- a/apps/messages/lib.js
+++ b/apps/messages/lib.js
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ function openMusic() {
 /* Push a new message onto messages queue, event is:
   {t:"add",id:int, src,title,subject,body,sender,tel, important:bool, new:bool}
   {t:"add",id:int, id:"music", state, artist, track, etc} // add new
-  {t:"remove-",id:int} // remove
+  {t:"remove",id:int} // remove
   {t:"modify",id:int, title:string} // modified
 */
 exports.pushMessage = function(event) {
@@ -31,11 +31,18 @@ exports.pushMessage = function(event) {
     else Object.assign(messages[mIdx], event);
     if (event.id=="music" && messages[mIdx].state=="play") {
       messages[mIdx].new = true; // new track, or playback (re)started
+      type = 'music';
     }
   }
   require("Storage").writeJSON("messages.json",messages);
+  var message = mIdx<0 ? {id:event.id, t:'remove'} : messages[mIdx];
   // if in app, process immediately
-  if ("undefined"!= typeof MESSAGES) return onMessagesModified(mIdx<0 ? {id:event.id} : messages[mIdx]);
+  if ("undefined"!=typeof MESSAGES) return onMessagesModified(message);
+  // emit message event
+  var type = 'text';
+  if (["call", "music", "map"].includes(message.id)) type = message.id;
+  if (message.src && message.src.toLowerCase().startsWith("alarm")) type = "alarm";
+  Bangle.emit("message", type, message);
   // update the widget icons shown
   if (global.WIDGETS && WIDGETS.messages) WIDGETS.messages.update(messages,true);
     // if no new messages now, make sure we don't load the messages app
diff --git a/apps/messages/metadata.json b/apps/messages/metadata.json
index da2e0945a..057a95026 100644
--- a/apps/messages/metadata.json
+++ b/apps/messages/metadata.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "id": "messages",
   "name": "Messages",
-  "version": "0.50",
+  "version": "0.51",
   "description": "App to display notifications from iOS and Gadgetbridge/Android",
   "icon": "app.png",
   "type": "app",