Messenger on Facebook will surely get a makeover. Facebook Messenger Head Davis Marcus revealed in an official blog post that the app had "become too cluttered" and would need to be simplified.
He wrote that they have built a lot of capabilities over the past two years to find the best features that keep the app apart from the rest. But some of those do not fit their market. So he noted that the app will invest in simplification and streamlining Messenger.
Marcus has not given any details on how Facebook plans to separate the app. However, he said that Messenger will get more options for visual messaging, additional group chat features, and new ways to interact with business. The company is also planning to continue investing in real-time messaging tools, such as voice and video chat, to help people stay connected via Messenger.
Marcus also wrote that some 1.3 billion people use Messenger every month as of late. Messenger users had also sent over 500 billion emojis, 18 billion GIFs and had 17 billion video chats in 2017.
More than 200,000 chatbots were launched on the platform by businesses as well. Typically, the bot has a Messenger icon inside the logo of the business. The icon is the little lightning-bolt in the blue circle, the same one used to alert you to friends who are participating in the network.
Meanwhile, a version of the Messenger app for kids has been launched by Facebook. The Messenger Kids iOS app can be installed on the Apple smartphone or tablet of a child, but can be managed from the Facebook account of a parent.
The organization has also added support for 4K pictures recently. Facebook wants to ensure that the high-resolution images you send via Messenger come through in all their crisp, colorful glory.
The social networking giant announced its Messenger app now supports 4K resolution photos, or up to 4,096-by-4,096 pixels per picture. That's the "highest quality many smartphones can support," Messenger Product Managers Sean Kelly and Hagen Green wrote on a blog post. Previously, by default, Messenger send photos in a lowly 2K resolution.
And this resolution bump won't get you to curl your thumbs waiting for your pictures to go through. Facebook promised that, even at this higher resolution, images would be sent as easily as before.
Just be sure to update your Messenger app to the latest version to send photos at 4K resolution. Then just send a photo as standard and you will receive the highest resolution from the person you are messaging.
News of the imminent overhaul of Facebook Messenger comes after Snapchat announced a major redesign in late November that will separate content from friends and content from publishers as part of an effort to make the app more understandable for newbies.
Facebook itself is also making several major changes that are likely to cause page administrators to see a fall in interaction. The social networking site recently revealed plans to begin showing users more posts from families, friends, and communities that they are part of, and less content from companies, brands, and news.
