Facebook Messenger now lets you share and view fullscreen photos and videos

Facebook Messenger for iPad

Facebook today issued a small update to the Messenger client for iOS. Now bumped to version 9.0 (yeah, their versioning scheme is a bit odd), the refreshed iPhone and iPad application finally makes it possible to share and view fullscreen photos and videos.

Previously, sharing a photo or a short video clip would render content in a smaller section within the larger conversation view, similar to Apple’s iMessage…

How exactly does this work?

Easy, just fire up the updated app and hit the camera or photo icon at the bottom. Pay close attention and you’ll notice that Messenger’s built-in camera now has a full screen icon in the lower left.

Facebook Messenger 9.0 for iOS (iPhone screenshot 001)Facebook Messenger 9.0 for iOS (iPhone screenshot 002)

Tap it and you can now capture photos or videos in full screen. Previously, the camera interface was limited to the lower third of the screen, which was quite annoying.

In addition to fullscreen photos and videos, this edition of Messenger features other improvements “to make the app faster and more reliable,” as per Facebook’s release notes accompanying the 35MB download.

The company recently informed users that it will be disabling messaging functionality in the main mobile app, meaning everyone will soon need to download Messenger to communicate with their Facebook friends.

It is Facebook’s aim to avoid user confusion of having separate Facebook mobile messaging experiences, as per the company’s statement.

Earlier this week, the social networking behemoth soft-launched its Snapchat competitor, dubbed Bolt, in New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa ahead of a global launch due in the coming weeks.

Download Facebook Messenger free in the App Store.

The universal app requires iOS 7.0 or later.