Facebook Messenger

Facebook is the quintessential social network, but you may not always feel like being social every time you log in to your Facebook account. Whether it's because you don't have the energy or the time to engage with friends, you do have the option to browse Facebook without anyone knowing you're online. The way to achieve this is by turning off your "Active Status," which can be done within...

Facebook Messenger claims to be a secure platform for private communications, but the truth is that regular conversations conducted through the app are not end-to-end encrypted, which puts your sensitive information at considerable risk. End-to-end encryption ensures that only you and the person you're communicating with can read or listen to what is sent, and nobody in between, not even...

After previously only existing as an "Easter Egg" setting, Facebook in April 2019 added a Dark Mode theme as an official display feature of its standalone Messenger app. Facebook says that Dark Mode is designed to provide less harsh brightness in situations where ambient lighting is lower while maintaining contrast and vibrancy. If you have an OLED iPhone, such as an iPhone X, iPhone XS,...

Last year, PayPal launched within Facebook Messenger as a way for users to shop and complete payments directly through the messaging app. Today, the two companies are expanding the focus of this feature and opening up peer-to-peer payments for Facebook Messenger users who have linked their PayPal account to the app. With a rollout starting today, Facebook Messenger users will be able to tap on ...

Facebook's Messenger service was today updated with a new Apple Music chat extension, allowing Messenger users to link to Apple Music content to share songs and directly within the Messenger app. The extension can be accessed by tapping on the "+" icon next to the text bar to add Apple Music to a conversation. There's also an option to interact directly with the Apple Music chat bot to ask for ...

Home screen ads in Facebook Messenger, which have been in testing in Australia and Thailand since January, will soon roll out to all users in a beta capacity, Facebook announced in a blog post this morning. The Facebook Messenger home screen currently displays recent messages from friends, "Shared Days," Favorites, and friends who are currently online. When ads roll out, this screen will also...

Facebook this week announced it has added several new features to video chatting in its Messenger app for iPhone and iPad. In both one-on-one and group video chats, Messenger users can now add or use animated reactions, filters, effects, and new masks, while Facebook has added a conveniently placed camera icon to take a screenshot of your video chat. For animated reactions, Messenger...

Spotify today announced a new mobile feature called Group Playlists for Messenger, which enables users of Facebook's chat app to create music mixes collaboratively within a conversation thread. With Group Playlists for Messenger, users can create new Spotify playlists with friends and immediately begin collaborating to build out their perfect mix. Ideal for parties, road trips, or simply...

Facebook today revealed a new redesign coming to its standalone Facebook Messenger app for iOS and Android, with subtle UI changes that emphasize new features like games, while making it easier to see which friends are online and what notifications have been missed (via TechCrunch). The main UI addition is the introduction of three new tabs atop the app for messages, active friends, and...

MasterCard added its digital wallet Masterpass to Facebook Messenger this week, enabling consumers to place online orders via the chat platform with just a few clicks. The rollout is still in the initial stages but the payment system is already available for some food merchants, including Subway, The Cheesecake Factory, and FreshDirect. The transaction process involves searching for and...

Facebook today announced plans to integrate both Spotify and Apple Music into Facebook Messenger, allowing Messenger users to link to Apple Music or Spotify content for sharing songs and playlists directly within the Facebook Messenger app. Apple has not shared details on how its chat extension will work, but Spotify published a blog post detailing the Spotify chat extension, which will...

Facebook announced its first virtual assistant on Thursday in the form of "M", which privately interjects in chat threads on Messenger to offer users suggestions related to the conversation. The feature goes beyond the platform's chat bot technology, offering recommendations for relevant stickers, GIFs, payments, rides and meeting times now appear to each user above the message composer in...

Following in the footsteps of Google Maps and Find My Friends, Facebook today announced that users will be able to track their friends and family within Facebook Messenger using a new feature it calls "Live Location." The hour-long location sharing feature is beginning to roll out globally today, and Facebook said it should help friends coordinate with one another when making plans, as well...

One of Facebook's Snapchat clones is launching worldwide today within Facebook Messenger, after a previous soft launch in countries including Poland and Australia. Called "Messenger Day," the new feature will allow Messenger users to post updates that disappear after 24 hours. The twist with Messenger Day, according to Facebook, is that the app's filters and features encourage users to create...

A new trend study published by Nielsen this week looks into the top smartphone apps of 2016, as well as the operating systems that the apps were downloaded on. This year within the United States, Facebook won the top spot with more than 146 million average unique users each month. The social network company also dominated the second spot with Facebook Messenger at 129 million unique users...

Facebook began rolling out a new group video chat feature to its Messenger app yesterday, allowing up to six users to appear on the screen at the same time and join in the conversation. Messenger is the first mainstream chat platform to gain group video chat, beating the likes of Apple's FaceTime and iMessage, Google Duo, and Snapchat to the punch. In a blog post announcing the update,...

During the Money 20/20 conference taking place in Las Vegas this week, MasterCard announced that it's creating a chatbot for Facebook Messenger that will allow customers to "transact, manage finances, and shop via messaging platforms." Like many other companies, MasterCard is getting in on the chatbot craze to boost customer loyalty and profits; according to Gartner "nearly $2 billion in online...

Following the launch of "Instagram Stories" in August, Facebook is now preparing to ape Snapchat in its own Messenger app, with a feature called "Messenger Day." Originally launched to users in Poland, Messenger Day is now expanding and gaining attention with Facebook users in Australia (via Mashable). With the new feature in the Facebook Messenger iOS and Android apps, Messenger Day lets...

Facebook recently announced that users are now able to select the "initial view" for 360-degree photos when uploading pictures to the iOS, Android, and Chrome for Desktop Facebook apps. Prior to the update, Facebook would randomly choose a section of the 360-degree photo to showcase on the service, so now users can personally select the best section to show their friends and family (via The Next...

Facebook has announced that the rollout of cryptographic features for its massively popular Messenger chat service has completed, bringing end-to-end encryption to the largest messaging network in existence. Back in July, the social network company said it was testing the privacy feature on a limited basis which would eventually be rolled out to all 900 million users of the app. On Tuesday,...

Facebook has updated its Messenger app to support Apple's CallKit framework, which was introduced earlier this month with iOS 10. The CallKit SDK allows incoming calls from third-party VoIP apps to appear on the iOS lockscreen just like a standard cellular ID does. Incoming Messenger calls show the caller's Messenger profile information alongside controls like mute, keypad, and a...

In yet another deeper push into video, Facebook today is rolling out a new update to its Messenger app [Direct Link] that adds a new live video button into every chat window. When used, Facebook users will begin live streaming in a small pop-up window with sound turned off by default, allowing them to keep texting with the person on the other end while sharing visual details of their location...

Yesterday on Facebook, the company's dedicated messaging app, Facebook Messenger, posted news regarding its recent milestone of surpassing 1 billion monthly active users. As The Next Web pointed out, that's a growth of 200 million users since January, and roughly suggests that 1 out of every 7 members of the population are logging onto Facebook Messenger each month to text with friends and...