Facebook Messenger is a quite well-designed messaging app available on both Android and iOS, and now you don’t even need to a Facebook account to use it.
Back in March, Facebook made much noise with its unveiling of Facebook Messenger Platform, a way through which developers can integrate their third-party apps into the company’s popular Messenger app, creating new uses and features for the messaging service. Now, the platform is seeing its first Android game in the form of Doodle Draw.
A couple Facebook announcements today for Android users: Those in the developing world get a new “Lite” version of Facebook that brings a scaled-back but much faster experience when using the app on slower networks. In addition, all Facebook Messenger users on Android are getting new and improved features for sharing their location.
Facebook notes that the new Lite app is “is less than 1MB so it is fast to install and quick to load. It includes Facebook’s core experiences like News Feed, status updates, photos, notifications and more.”
And here’s the company’s description of the new location sharing features rolling out to Messenger users today:
Today, we’re excited to start rolling it out in place of our previous location sharing feature. Now you can choose to explicitly send a map of your location or another particular place as a separate message… With this update, you have full control over when and how you share your location information. You only send a location when you tap on the location pin and then choose to send it as a separate message. You can also share a location—like a meeting spot—even if you’re not there.
Here’s a look at the new location sharing features on Android:
The new Facebook Lite app is already available on Google Play for users in Asia while users in parts of Latin America, Africa, and Europe will get access over the coming weeks.
Facebook Messenger for Android has been given an update, bringing the ability to send 15-second video clips through the app, as well as send even bigger thumbs-up graphics for when you just really, really like something that your friend said.
Notably, this update brings the app in line with much of what Snapchat offers. But also, doesn’t this new video feature kind of duplicate the true Snapchat competitor that Facebook is launching soon?
You can grab Facebook Messenger version 6.0 on the Play Store for free.
What’s New
Instant Video Sending: Shoot and play 15-second video messages from the camera right in the app.
Big Likes: Press and hold to send an even bigger thumbs up when you really, really like something.
Want to stay on the dangerously cutting edge of social software on Android? Boy, does Facebook have an offer for you.
Announced today, Facebook is opening its Messenger app to beta testers on Android and looking for feedback on its user experience. The program aims to cast a wider net on catching bugs before they ship to general public. While testers will likely have a bumpier experience than users with the general release version, there’s potential to test unreleased features that might never make the public edition.
Facebook launched a similar program for its main Android app last summer.
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A brand new Facebook test build is making its way into the wild and with it comes a flatter redesign. The boys at Android Police have a brief look at the redesign and its pretty easy at first glance to recognize that a lot has changed.
Back in October, Facebook announced that it would be totally revamping its Messenger app for Android. At the time, the social network made the redesign available to just a few beta testers. Today, however, Messenger for Android has been updated in the Play Store to bring the new, beautified interface to more users.
In addition to the new interface, the app also has a few new features. For one, you can now easily see which friends are available for chatting and which are not. The menu system has also been redone and makes navigation a whole lot easier. Finally, you can also now initiate a chat with anyone via Messenger, even if they are not your Facebook friend. You simply have to have their phone number.
What about the people you text with who aren’t your Facebook friends? Now you just need a contact’s phone number to begin texting others using Messenger. To help people reach you, you’ll be asked to confirm your phone number.
The update is rolling out gradually to select users now, so head to the Play Store and look for yourself.
(early beta of the functionality, above)
Update: The app is now live on the App Store. A full list of new features is below.
Alongside the Facebook Messenger for iPad app and updated iPhone app with video chat that we revealed earlier this week, we have also been beta testing a new “read receipts” feature. Today, Facebook is apparently rolling out the new feature to its existing iOS Messenger app, which gives you the ability to see when someone received and read your message.
While the update is not live, TechCrunch confirmed with FaceBook’s Peter Deng that the update is coming to the current iOS Facebook Messenger client and Android’s counterpart. According to the report, the feature will appear as “Seen by username” under the message itself, but our build of the app used checkmarks—as seen in the image above.
As noted by TechCrunch, the update will include the name of the location when the message was sent, if the user has enabled location services. It also replaces the three-dot typing indicator with the name of the person typing.
The updated Facebook Messenger iOS app is available here.
