Facebook Messenger

Goofy offers a native Facebook Messenger client for Mac

Anthony Bouchard ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Earlier this week, what appeared to be a leaked photo of Facebook's future Messenger client for OS X became all the buzz. Facebook may finally be in the works of developing a client for Apple's Mac platform that works just like the mobile app on iOS, allowing users to stay connected with their friends and family right from their desktop without having to have all the distractions of the full web site open in a web browser.

But that's not to say you have to wait until Facebook is good and ready to release such an app to start using such an app on your Mac.

Native Facebook Messenger for Mac app revealed in leaked photo

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 29, 2016

Facebook may be bringing its popular messaging app to the desktop, according to a blurry photo obtained by TechCrunch which appears to show a native application being tested on a Mac notebook by an employee.

Facebook currently provides the Messenger app for a number of mobile platforms, in addition to a dedicated web interface at messenger.com and built-in messaging functionality available through its desktop UI at facebook.com.

Facebook Messenger reaches the milestone of 800 million monthly users

Christian Zibreg ∙ January 7, 2016

Facebook Messenger has reached a new milestone as the service now claims 800 million monthly users, according to an announcement from Facebook itself on Thursday. “I’m happy to report that we’ve made a good step in that direction, and toward the end of 2015, we crossed the milestone of 800 million people using Messenger each month,” according to David Marcus, Facebook's Vice President of Messaging Products.

The new milestone, according to latest Nielsen data, makes Messenger the fastest growing app of 2015.

Facebook Messenger gains Photo Magic feature, per-chat customization and more

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 17, 2015

Less than twenty-four hours after rolling out Uber integration within Messenger, Facebook today announced a brand new update that enables per-chat customization and other enhancements for the popular messaging platform.

And as promised, the application now provides the Photo Magic feature to users in more countries following its recent soft-launch on Android in Australia.

Billed as an easier way to privately share photos with friends, Photo Magic taps into Facebook's advanced face recognition algorithm to automatically recognize people in your photos, offering to share them via Messenger.

You can now request a ride with Uber through Facebook Messenger

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 16, 2015

Uber, the popular ride-sharing service, is now available through Facebook Messenger. Yup, you read that right—you can now call an Uber and request a ride within Facebook's mobile Messenger application.

As announced on Wednesday, the new Transportation feature permits users of the Facebook Messenger app in the United States to request a ride from Uber, without ever needing to download the Uber app or leave a conversation.

Facebook Messenger gains 3D Touch shortcuts, message requests and snowflake animations

Christian Zibreg ∙ December 16, 2015

Facebook has released an update to its Messenger software in the App Store, bumping the app to version 52.0 and bringing out 3D Touch shortcuts on the Home screen for owners of the iPhone 6s or iPhone 6s Plus.

Just press Messenger's icon lightly with 3D Touch and up pops a menu with the New Message option, along with handy shortcuts for starting a chat with your top three most-frequently messaged contacts.

Facebook releases a version of Messenger that’s meant for the office

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 20, 2015

Facebook today launched a dedicated version of its mobile messaging software, Facebook Messenger, that's meant to be used at work.

As reported on by TechCrunch, the applications is called Work Chat and available now for Android smartphones over at Google's Play Store, while a version for iPhones is being worked on and scheduled to release soon.

The app is basically an expansion of Facebook at Work, the company's business platform which has been in private testing for months now.

Facebook’s facial recognition coming to Messenger

Christian Zibreg ∙ November 9, 2015

Facebook's facial recognition technology, used on the site to offer suggestions for photo tags, is coming to the company's Messenger mobile software, Re/code reported Monday.

With facial recognition, Messenger will run an analysis of the photos in your iPhone's Camera roll that you haven’t uploaded yet. When it recognizes a face of a Facebook friend on a photo, you'll get a notification to send them the image through Messenger, a cool feature if you snap a bunch of photos at parties that you routinely forget to send later to the attendees.

Facebook testing new ‘M’ digital assistant feature within Messenger

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 28, 2016

Facebook on Wednesday began testing a new digital assistant feature called 'M.' As explained by Facebook Messenger lead David Marcus, the feature, which lives inside Messenger, is powered by artificial intelligence that can complete tasks and find information on a user's behalf.

The artificial intelligence is both trained and supervised by real live humans, and unlike other AI-based services available today, it can do things like purchase items and deliver gifts. Of course it can handle normal chores too, such as booking restaurants and logging appointments.

You can now sign up for Messenger with your phone number, no Facebook account needed

Christian Zibreg ∙ June 24, 2015

You no longer need a Facebook account in order to exchange instant messages with your contacts through the Facebook Messenger service. By dropping the Facebook account requirement, the social network hopes to bring in even more people under the Messenger fold.

By last count, Messenger had 700 million active users, approaching the 800 million user base of WhatsApp, a wildly popular messaging service Facebook acquired for a staggering $19 billion.

Free video calling in Facebook Messenger rolling out to all users worldwide

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 28, 2016

Facebook confirmed today that free video calling in its mobile Messenger application has begun rolling out to all users worldwide. The feature launched in select markets on April 27, 2015.

“Quick update on video calling in Messenger: we're happy to share we've now rolled out the capability globally, with the exception of a few countries we're still working on improving quality for,” David Marcus, Messaging at Facebook, wrote in a post on Facebook this morning.

Facebook launches standalone web version of Messenger

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 30, 2018

Facebook on Wednesday unveiled a new standalone web version of its Messenger chat service, giving users a way to message their friends and family without dealing with News Feed and other interruptions. It can be accessed at Messenger.com, and can be used in a browser tab on your desktop the way you'd use the mobile app.

"Messenger.com is for users who want to message without the other distractions that Facebook can provide," a spokesperson told Recode. "If you’re messaging through Facebook, that means News Feed and your friends’ user profiles are nearby. Messenger.com is about focus."