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,...

Meta is rolling out end-to-end encryption for personal messages and calls on Messenger and Facebook, finally delivering on a pledge it committed to some time ago. Messenger encryption originally arrived in 2016 in the form of "secret conversations," and plans to extend the platform's cryptographic features have been floated ever since. According to Loredana Crisan, Head of Messenger,...

Meta has revealed plans to end Instagram users' ability to chat with Facebook accounts later this month, rolling back a feature that it introduced over three years ago. In September 2020, Meta (then Facebook) announced it was merging its Facebook Messenger service with Instagram direct messaging, allowing Instagram users to chat with Facebook users and vice versa using the same platform....

Facebook Messenger's Apple Watch app will be discontinued at the end of this month, according to Meta, ending the ability for users to reply to messages on the service from their wrist. Posts shared on social media carried a screenshot of a notification sent to a handful of users in recent days informing them that Messenger won't be available as an Apple Watch app after May 31, but that...

Meta (aka Facebook) today announced the introduction of Messenger "shortcuts," a new Slack-style command system that allows users to speed up communication and get messages to their intended recipients. Building on the @username tagging method to direct a message to a specific person in a chat, the new system introduces @everyone for grabbing everyone's attention in a group chat, and /silent ...

The British Government is reportedly preparing a publicity attack on end-to-end encryption in an effort to mobilize public opinion against the technology by framing it as a child safety issue, with its main aim being to derail Facebook's plan to end-to-end encrypt its Messenger platform. According to Rolling Stone, the Home Office has hired the M&C Saatchi advertising agency to plan the...

Facebook, now rebranded to "Meta," is delaying plans to use end-to-end encryption for Messenger and Instagram messages until at least 2023, a year later than the previous deadline promised by the social media behemoth. Writing in The Telegraph, Meta's head of global safety, Antigone Davis, said that the company is pushing back its deadline to roll out end-to-end encryption as the default...

Facebook today announced updates coming to Facebook Messenger as the app and service celebrates its tenth birthday. The new features include a new game, tighter integration with Facebook Pay, message effects, and more. For Messenger users in the United States, Messenger now allows you to receive cash gifts directly within the app. This is being enabled thanks to Facebook Pay, and when cash...

Facebook has announced new features for its Messenger app, including a quick reply bar, QR codes, and new chat themes. The new quick reply bar can be found in the Messenger media viewer, and aims to make it easier to chat about media posted by friends without needing to go back to the main chat thread. Users can tap on a photo or video and send a response via the quick reply bar, which...

Facebook is preparing to launch a lawsuit against Apple for alleged anticompetitive behaviour, particularly regarding App Tracking Transparency and iMessage, according to The Information. The antitrust lawsuit would contend that Apple has abused its power in the smartphone industry by enforcing App Store rules that Apple itself supposedly does not have to follow. Within this, the case...

New universal chat app "Beeper" combines 15 different chat platforms into a single inbox and offers iMessage on Android and Windows (via The Verge). The app comes from a team including former Pebble CEO Eric Migicovsky, and enables users to integrate a range of messaging services, including WhatsApp, SMS, Signal, Telegram, Slack, Twitter, Skype, Hangouts, Discord, Instagram, and Facebook...

Some Messenger and Instagram features are temporarily unavailable to users in Europe in order to comply with new rules on data usage currently being rolled out in EU countries. Affected users are seeing alerts in the Facebook-owned apps that some features aren’t available to "respect new rules for messaging services in Europe." The alert doesn't specify what the missing features are, but ...

Facebook's Messenger and Instagram apps are getting a new "vanish mode" feature that gives users a new way to chat using disappearing messages. Disappearing messages can already be used in Messenger's "secret conversation" feature, but they require several steps and users have to set a timer to make the messages disappear. However, the new "vanish mode" is enabled by simply swiping up in ...

Around a month after Facebook began quietly merging its Messenger service with Instagram direct messaging, the transition has been officially launched, with a full rollout to all users soon to follow. As a result of the merging of the chat services, Instagram users can chat with Facebook users and vice versa using the same platform. Features previously only available on Facebook Messenger...

Facebook is now actively seeking an option to make its Messenger app the default app for messages on iPhones, reports The Information. Emboldened by changes in iOS 14 that allow users to set a default email and browser app of their choice, Facebook believes it now has a more persuasive case to argue for a similar change for messaging apps. Last year, Apple also allowed Siri to send...

Facebook has announced a new forward limit on its Messenger chat platform so that messages can now only be forwarded to five people or groups at a time. The limiter was revealed in a Facebook Newsroom blog post explaining that the new rule has been introduced to provide users with "a safer, more private messaging experience," particularly amid the ongoing global health crisis and in the run...

Facebook's long-term plan to integrate Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp chat platforms appeared to kick into gear over the weekend as Instagram users in the U.S. were notified of a "new way to message" on the photo-sharing social network that merges the app's chat feature with Facebook Messenger. Image via The Verge As a result of the merging of the chat services, the change means Instagram ...

Facebook today announced enhanced privacy and security features for Messenger on iOS, including a new "App Lock" feature. With this enabled, Facebook Messenger will require Face ID or Touch ID authentication before it is opened. The company hopes that this will let users feel more comfortable when letting someone else borrow their phone, preventing anyone else from viewing private Messenger...

Facebook today announced that a new screen sharing feature is now available in the Messenger app on iOS and Android. The feature was first available on the web version of Facebook, and on desktop apps. On iOS, you can share a live view of your iPhone screen with a friend or family member. When video calling someone, you can tap to expand the bottom menu and find the "Share Your Screen"...

Facebook has announced the launch of Messenger Kids in over 70 more countries as well as several new features for parents to help their children connect with friends and family during the global health crisis. The new features include Supervised Friending, which gives parents the option to allow their kids to accept, reject, add or remove contacts. When a child takes a friending action,...

Facebook's experimental NPE Team today has launched a new app called "Kit" or "Keep in Touch" for connecting with close friends over Messenger on the Apple Watch. To get started, users scan a QR code on the Apple Watch, or enter an access code at fb.com/devices. Then, users select a Messenger contact and can quickly send that person a message, voice recording, emoji, or their location with a...