Facebook unbundled Messenger from its main social media app and offered it as a standalone app but if a new discovery is anything to go by, it appears that Messenger could return to Facebook proper. This feature is currently being tested and would thus allow users to just use a single app to access both Facebook and its messaging platform.
App researcher Jane Manchun Wong discovered that Facebook may be thinking about putting Messenger’s chat back into its main app. The existing Messenger button in the Facebook app is used for this change but it opens a new “Chats” section as opposed to opening the standalone Messenger app.
Wong noted in a follow up tweet that the Chats section only has a few of Messenger’s features. Facebook has really expanded the messaging platform’s abilities beyond just messaging ever since Messenger was launched as a standalone app in 2011. Messenger eventually became a very popular app in its own right as Facebook added a lot more functionality to the service.
The limited functionality in the main app will enable users to send and receive messages but they will be required to use the standalone app nonetheless for sending photos, making calls, or sending message reactions. It’s unclear at this point in time when Facebook plans on rolling out this change to all users.
Facebook is bringing the Chats back to the app for preparing integrated messaging
Tip @Techmeme pic.twitter.com/LABK7qrk0e
— Jane Manchun Wong (@wongmjane) April 12, 2019
Filed in . Read more about Facebook and Facebook Messenger.