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  • Is Facebook Bringing Back Messenger into the Main App?

    Is Facebook Bringing Back Messenger into the Main App?

    Facebook’s decision to remove the Messenger app from the main Facebook app is one of the most criticised decision ever taken by the social media giant. Right now, the only way to message any of your Facebook friends is to download the standalone Messenger app from Google Play or the App Store and install it on your phone.

    Introduced in 2011, the Messenger app was integrated into the main Facebook platform until a few years back. In 2014, Facebook alienated the Messenger app, making billions of users download the app separately, to stay connected with their Facebook friends. While this provided Facebook, with a separate multi-million user platform, the move was largely criticised by both users and tech experts.

    Facebook may bring back Messenger into the main app

    Recently, researcher and tech-blogger, Jane Manchun Wong, who is famous for delving into the backend of popular apps, noticed a new feature within Facebook’s app that indicated that Facebook might have plans to integrate the Messenger with the main app.

    Wong recently tweeted on her Twitter account, that Facebook is likely working on an app redesign that it may launch in few months. She stated that the new redesign, instead of redirecting users to the Messenger app, opens the chat window within the main app in a separate section.

    However, Wong also noted that currently the chat feature within the app has only basic functionalities like sending and receiving messages. If you want to use any of the advanced features like sending photos, making a voice call or using reactions, then you must install the Messenger app. She also noted that these advanced features could be added before the redesign goes live.

    Facebook’s grand plan to unify all its apps

    Tech experts wonder whether bringing back the Messenger app into the Facebook app signals Facebook’s grand plan to unify all its chat and social apps including Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

    Earlier this year, The New York Times reported that Mark Zuckerberg, the Chief Executive of Facebook has plans to integrate all three major divisions of Facebook – WhatsApp, Messenger, and Instagram under the main Facebook app. While these three services will continue to operate as stand-alone apps, users could conveniently message across these platforms using the main Facebook app. When this happens, it will have major implications as it will allow more than 2.6 billion users to communicate across platforms for the first time.

    While this plan is in the works, the NY Times article reported that the unification wouldn’t happen until the end of this year or the beginning of the next year.

    What has Facebook got to say about the integration of the Messenger in the main app?

    In an interview to the Verge, a Facebook spokesperson stated that the company is testing new ways to enrich the messaging experience for users within the main Facebook app. However, Messenger continues to remain a stand-alone, feature-rich app connecting over a billion users’ monthly and they don’t have any additional details to share.

  • Facebook Messenger Design Revamp – All You Need to Know About It

    Facebook Messenger Design Revamp – All You Need to Know About It

    Those who use Facebook’s messenger service would support the fact that the application is riddled with features that one can easily do without. In an attempt to keep the layout cleaner, Facebook has launched a cleaner version of the messenger app.

    The Messenger redesign didn’t happen overnight. The social media behemoth had given a sneak peek of this change in its annual F8 conference held in May 2018. The change tackles three key areas

    –    Take out some of the unnecessary interface elements

    –    Put more focus on commonly used features that users want to get to in quick time

    –    Simplify the overall experience the user receives

    In addition, it has now put an additional ‘dark’ option for variety in interface appearance.

    While there was no official notification of how the sneak peek of May 2018 would transpire into the user devices till now, but now we see many reports coming in of users viewing the new display on the Messenger app. This shows that Facebook is rolling out the changes, starting with a handful of beta users.

    Some of the changes reported are as below –

    1 – Interface level

    At the interface level, we found the new appearance to be a tad jaded. Though it looks fresh from FB point of view, if we compare it to revamped applications like Skype chat, we can see that a lot of companies have already done this keeping in mind that a lot of chat activity now happens on the limited screen real estate of the mobile.

    2 – Looks

    The new look does help users who prefer an uncluttered layout or work with just a handful of the multiple functions available. They have done away with unnecessary lines, thus making the entire layout seamless. This goes very well with Google material design emphasis. Though some may feel that the all-white outlook may hinder the overall appeal of the screens. A good point though is the availability of the ‘dark’ mode for chatting at night.

    3 – Bottom bar

    Some radical changes have occurred in the bottom bar. It now houses just three icons. The camera button is missing here. But if we look closely we will see that the camera icon is now shifted from the bottom bar to the top right space. Same is the case with the ‘New Chat’ icon.

    The app surely looks a lot different from its previous avatar. It also syncs with the overall business philosophy of Facebook to simplify the user experience around the app. Initial responses from the beta launch too look encouraging. However, what will be the responses coming in after a full-fledged launch? That is a question only time can answer.

    What are your thoughts about these changes done on the Facebook Messenger interface? What points would you like to keep and what features would you like to do away with from the new interface? Do write to us and let us know.

  • ‘Secret Conversations’ – Facebook’s new feature on end-to-end encryption

    Now you can have encrypted conversations on Facebook, thanks to its roll out of end-to-end encryption for messenger users.

    The feature is called as ‘secret conversations’ and can be found by clicking the top-right button. One has to turn on the feature to use it.

    David Marcus, VP of Facebook Messaging products, had shared on a Facebook post during July’16 about the end-to-end encryption function. Wired’s Andy Greenberg, got a confirmation from a Facebook spokesperson that all messenger users can use ‘secret conversations’. However, every user should be able to use it for the conversations they choose than making it a default option.

    Facebook hasn’t publicised the roll out yet.

    Source: Social Times (https://goo.gl/R1zdIb)

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