News & Reviews:   Facebook Messenger

Most Malaysians probably prefer WhatsApp over Facebook Messenger. But if you're one of the few who uses the latter, it's good to know that the app is still being updated. In fact, Meta recently added several new features to Facebook Messenger.

Looks like the Internet is going to be more interesting. Recently, Meta rolled out new AI updates for its apps. That includes WhatsApp, Instagram and even Facebook Messenger. That said, what should you know about it?

In 2016, Meta (then still known as Facebook) introduced Messenger Lite, an app aimed at less powerful Android devices which eventually expanded to all smartphones. Well, the company recently revealed that it is discontinuing the app, with the last day of support being 18 September 2023.

Facebook announced that SMS messages will no longer be available when you update your Messenger app. If you use Facebook Messenger as your default SMS messaging app on Android, this feature will no longer be available after the update on 28 September 2023.

Facebook and Messenger recently announced the introduction of Community Chats, a feature that allows group organisers to create curated live Messenger chat groups similar to Discord. Through the feature, users can browse chats organised by announcements, topics, events and more instead of just relying on feed posts and comments.

While Facebook has renamed itself to Meta, most of its apps and products have avoided that awkward name change. That doesn't mean that nothing will change for apps like Facebook Messenger. In fact, sources have found new features for the platform.

Rather than phone calls, most people keep in touch through messaging apps these days. So it's always nice to see new features being added to these apps. Facebook is aware of that, as it has added some new chat features and other features to Messenger and Instagram.

During the pandemic, Facebook updated its Messenger allowing users to have a video call together up to 50 people. And now just this morning, they quietly rolled out another update that enables us to "Watch Together" any videos that are on Facebook Watch in real-time.

Video chat service is one of the things that we can't live without during this pandemic. Not only keeping us connected, but it is also used for various professional purposes while we're being quarantined at home. Screen sharing is an important tool for video chat service to let users interact with one and another. For that, Facebook has updated the Messenger with a new screen sharing feature for those who would like to share their phone screens with their family and friends.

"A cross-platform between Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, you say?" Yes, it looks like this is going to happen and it's currently in development as we speak. This was discovered by @Alex193a, a reverse engineer when he was checking out some codes inside Messenger, showcasing many "whats_app" files.