Viber adds video conferencing feature in Philippines

MANILA - Users of chat app Viber in the Philippines can now use its new Group Video Calls and have a video conference with up to 20 people with unlimited duration, the company said Thursday. 

Viber said that the added support for video meets the growing demand for large video calls to replicate face-to-face conversations and conferences. 

“We’re excited to enable users to participate in video calls with up to 20 people, and we’re going to expand this further very soon,” said Ofir Eyal, COO of Viber.

Social distancing has compelled people to rethink the way they gather in groups, making alternative online meetups not only convenient but necessary, Viber said in a statement. 

The chat app has been updated with a new “video” button at the top of the screen where participants can be added to an ongoing video call. 

Viber’s Group Video Calls also support features like screen sharing and video broadcasting for both mobile and desktop devices. 

"Group Video Calls give the speaker the floor, displaying their video for all participants," Viber said. 

Users can also mute themselves or disable their video during the call, as well as see if other participants are on mute or if their video is turned off. The new feature also lets users privately pin anyone’s video to their personal screen during the call. 

Video conferencing apps have seen a tremendous boom in the number of users worldwide after the coronavirus pandemic made social distancing the norm. 

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Facebook unveils scam warnings for Messenger users

SAN FRANCISCO, United States - Facebook on Thursday said that its Messenger app will be watching behind the scenes for scammers using the smartphone communication system.

Safety notices will pop up in Messenger text chats if activity taking place in the background is deemed suspicious by artificial intelligence software, according to director of privacy and safety product management Jay Sullivan.

He said the new safety feature "will help millions of people avoid potentially harmful interactions and possible scams without compromising their privacy."

The feature began rolling out to the Messenger app tailored for Android-powered smartphones in March and will head to Messenger on iPhones next week, according to Facebook.

"Too often people interact with someone online they think they know or trust, when it’s really a scammer or imposter," Sullivan said.

"These accounts can be hard to identify at first and the results can be costly."

Artificial intelligence software scans for scammers based on account behavior, such as sending messages in bulk targeting demographics or geographies, according to Facebook.

Warning notices pop up before people respond to messages of possibly dubious origins.

Since the feature does not involve looking at what is in messages, it should continue to add a layer of safety when Messenger takes to encrypted missives as planned by Facebook.

"As we move to end-to-end encryption, we are investing in privacy-preserving tools like this to keep people safe without accessing message content," Sullivan said.

Messenger already uses software tools to fight spam and thwart efforts by adults to contact minors they don't appear to know.

Messenger has been ramping up capabilities and security as use of online tools to communicate and socialize surges due to restrictions of movement during the pandemic.

Facebook recently unveiled a new video chat service with virtual "rooms" where people can pop in to visit friends, aiming at users turning to the popular Zoom platform during the pandemic.

Agence France-Presse

Facebook rolls out Messenger Kids to 70 new countries

SAN FRANCISCO, United States - Facebook on Wednesday rolled out its Messenger Kids application to 70 new countries, saying it can help children deal with the challenges of distance learning and isolation during the virus lockdowns.

The app, which is aimed at children under 13, will also be adding a "supervised friending" feature enabling parents to approve new connections, starting in the United States and gradually rolling out to other countries.

"With schools closed and people physically distancing, parents are turning to technology more than ever to help their kids connect with friends and family," Facebook's global head of safety Antigone Davis said in a blog post.

"Messenger Kids is a video chat and messaging app that helps kids connect with friends and family in a fun, parent-controlled space. Today, we're starting to roll out Messenger Kids to more countries and we’re adding new choices for parents to connect kids with friends."

Messenger Kids was launched in the United States in 2017 and expanded later to Canada and a handful of other countries, aiming at children too young for a Facebook account.

With the changes announced Wednesday, kids will be able to connect in groups to help facilitate learning, under parental supervision.

Parents in the US, Canada and Latin America can also allow their children to make their name and profile photo visible as part of the move to get more friends.

Kids will be able to initiate their own friend requests. Up to now these had to be initiated by the parents.

"Parents have told us they want to be able to give their kids more independence in managing their contact list while still maintaining parental supervision," Davis said.

"Previously, it was up to parents to invite and approve every contact for their child. Now with supervised friending, parents can choose to allow their kids to also accept, reject, add or remove contacts, while maintaining the ability to override any new contact approvals."

Some privacy activists have argued the app could be harmful to children by drawing them into online activity and potentially gathering data on them.

Facebook has argued that the app helps parents supervise their youngsters who would be using its platform without safeguards.

The new countries are in various regions of the world and include Afghanistan, Costa Rica, Indonesia and Tuvalu. No European countries are on the list.

Agence France-Presse

Facebook down for some users - Downdetector.com

Facebook Inc's social networking site is inaccessible to some users across the world on Sunday, according to Downdetector.com, a website which monitors outages.

Technology website The Verge reported that Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp were also inaccessible to many users around the world.

Other news outlets have also reported on the outage.

Downdetector.com showed that there are more than 9000 incidents of people reporting issues with Facebook.

Downdetector.com's live outage map showed that the issues cropped up in Europe, the East Coast of the United States, and Southeast Asia including the Philippines.

Facebook had experienced one of its longest outages in March, when some users around the globe faced trouble accessing Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp for over 24 hours.

- With a report from Reuters

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Zuckerberg says Facebook's future is going big on private chats

SAN FRANCISCO -- Facebook Inc Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said on Wednesday the company would encrypt conversations on more of its messaging services and make them compatible, the latest sign that the world's biggest social network sees its future in intimate online chats.

Zuckerberg said in a post on his Facebook profile that within a few years direct messaging would dwarf discussion on the traditional, open platform of Facebook's news feed, where public posts can go viral across the world.

"Working towards implementing end-to-end encryption for all private communications is the right thing to do," Zuckerberg said. He cautioned that details of the plan could change as the company consults experts throughout 2019.

The strategy could frustrate law enforcement surveillance efforts as well as lawmakers who have called on Facebook to better moderate user content. It also would limit the company's ability to generate revenue through targeted ads.

But Zuckerberg said he could live with those tradeoffs because users want better control of their data while still having easy access to their contacts.

As part of Zuckerberg's strategy, a Facebook user would be able to communicate with WhatsApp users while only having a Messenger account and vice versa. Users would also have more options for how long chats are saved, he added.

"The future of communication will increasingly shift to private, encrypted services where people can be confident what they say to each other stays secure and their messages and content won't stick around forever," he said. "This is the future I hope we will help bring about."

Facebook shares rose 0.7 percent on Wednesday. Shares in Snap Inc, which owns messaging app Snapchat, ended down more than 2 percent.

Zuckerberg acknowledged that the public may be skeptical about Facebook's privacy push given the company does not have a "strong reputation for building privacy protective services."

Lawmakers, users and investors have expressed concerns over the last two years that Facebook is not doing enough to safeguard user data after a series of breaches and privacy bugs.

But Zuckerberg wrote that "we've repeatedly shown that we can evolve to build the services that people really want."

Facebook is one of the biggest global players in private messaging with its WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, each used by more than 1 billion people. Only WhatsApp fully secures message content from all outsiders, including Facebook itself.

Police have raised concerns about introducing similar security to the other services because they would no longer be able to access online chat records to track religious extremists or other perpetrators.

Regulators have called for Facebook to increase moderation of user content, but more encryption would make it difficult to view and track problematic posts.

Encrypted conversations also limit Facebook's ability to send targeted advertisements. Facebook may need to look for new ways to insert itself between businesses and consumers to generate revenue.

Tencent Holdings Ltd's WeChat app has shown how a messaging service can generate revenue through not only displaying ads, but also being a marketplace for games, merchandise and services such as taxi rides.

Facebook has encouraged messaging conversations between businesses and consumers since at least 2016 but has not disclosed its revenue from the efforts.

Zuckerberg said on Wednesday that "significant thought" still needs to go into integrating commerce into messaging.

James Cordwell, a financial analyst at Atlantic Equities, said Facebook's strategy risks undercutting its current way of making money.

"But if they can pull off this WeChat-esque strategy," he said, "it could open up material revenue streams beyond just advertising, something that investors have been craving for quite some time."

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Facebook restructures kids team in quest for youth

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook on Thursday announced it had restructured its team devoted to products or features designed to increase the social network's appeal to younger generations.

Nascent projects such as a "LOL" platform for funny memes were taken off the board at the "youth team," which shifted focus to more promising products such as a Messenger Kids app launched more than a year ago, according to the leading social network.

"The Youth team has restructured in order to match top business priorities, including increasing our investment in Messenger Kids," Facebook said in response to an AFP inquiry.

Facebook in December 2017 introduced a version of its Messenger application designed to let young children connect with others under parental supervision. No in-app purchases are allowed.

The social media giant said at the time that it created the app, available in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Peru and Thailand, because many children were going online without safeguards.

"We found that there was a need for a video chat and messaging app that lets kids connect with the people they love while putting parents in complete control," product management lead Jennifer Billock said in a blog post marking the app's one year anniversary.

"We conducted parent roundtables in each country and have continued gathering feedback from parents and outside experts."

Facebook's rules require that children be at least 13 to create an account, but many are believed to get around the restrictions.

California-based Facebook has been working to attract and keep young internet users being lured away from the social network by apps such as photo- and video-oriented Snapchat.

Facebook said the reorganization of the team was not related to recent controversy regarding a research app that paid users, including teens, to track their smartphone activity as part of an effort to glean more data that could help the social network's competition efforts.

The youth team was not involved with the research project nor did it use any of the data collected, according to Facebook.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Unsend feature rolls out for Facebook Messenger

MANILA -- Facebook said Wednesday it started rolling out a feature that lets 1.3 billion users of its Messenger app remove messages on the platform.

Messages can be removed for individual chats and group conversations as users can opt to delete a message either just for themselves or for other persons they sent it to, Facebook said.

The feature is available within a 10-minute window from the time the message was sent. Other people in the conversation will be alerted that a message was removed, Facebook said.

An "unsend" feature has been long available on rival chat platforms such as Viber and Telegram.

"Have you ever accidentally sent a message to the wrong group of friends, mistyped something, or simply wanted to remove a message in a chat? You’re not the only one!" Facebook said.

"Starting today, we are launching a feature where you can easily remove your message on Messenger – whether it’s to one person or a group," it said.

The feature is available on the latest versions of Messenger on iOS and Android.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Facebook Messenger's dark mode feature starts public testing

MANILA - After gradient options, Facebook has begun public testing its dark mode feature for the Messenger app in certain countries.

Twitter user Jane Wong, who became known for uncovering upcoming tech features by unpacking them, broke the news on New Year's Day.

Wong earlier said the feature was ready to roll out back in November.

In a tweet on Nov. 17, Messenger confirmed that the dark mode feature will be made available after the new version of the app has been rolled out globally.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Facebook simplifies Messenger app

SAN FRANCISCO -- Facebook on Tuesday announced an overhaul of its Messenger smartphone app in an effort to simplify the service for its 1.3 billion monthly global users.

The social network began rolling out a redesigned version featuring three tabs instead of nine, saying it was "going back to its roots" seven years after the standalone app's launch.

"We build one feature after another; they're piling up," Messenger chief Stan Chudnovsky said of the service, which has grown from a simple messaging app to one that lets users make video calls, send money and more.

The updated tabs allow users to navigate between their conversations under "Chats," stories and contacts at "People," and "Discovery," which is devoted to games and exchanges with businesses.

Facebook has positioned Messenger as a tool for businesses to efficiently handle customer questions or concerns.

Talking to customers via the app is free -- but businesses can also pay for Facebook ads that let customers start a conversation or visit their page with one click.

Messenger is part of Facebook's effort to expand outside the social network -- particularly when it comes to staying relevant to mobile lifestyles and younger people, who have been moving away from the service.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

US government seeks Facebook help to wiretap Messenger-sources

SAN FRANCISCO - The US government is trying to force Facebook Inc to break the encryption in its popular Messenger app so law enforcement may listen to a suspect's voice conversations in a criminal probe, 3 people briefed on the case said, resurrecting the issue of whether companies can be compelled to alter their products to enable surveillance.

The previously unreported case in a federal court in California is proceeding under seal, so no filings are publicly available, but the 3 people told Reuters that Facebook is contesting the US Department of Justice's demand.

The judge in the Messenger case heard arguments on Tuesday on a government motion to hold Facebook in contempt of court for refusing to carry out the surveillance request, according to the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Facebook and the Department of Justice declined to comment.

The Messenger issue arose in Fresno, California, as part of an investigation of the MS-13 gang, one of the people said.

US President Donald Trump frequently uses the gang, which is active in the United States and Central America, as a symbol of lax US immigration policy and a reason to attack so-called "sanctuary" laws preventing police from detaining people solely to enforce immigration law.

Trump called members of the gang "animals" this year when the Sheriff of Fresno County complained that California laws limited her cooperation with federal immigration enforcement targeting gang members.

The potential impact of the judge's coming ruling is unclear. If the government prevails in the Facebook Messenger case, it could make similar arguments to force companies to rewrite other popular encrypted services such as Signal and Facebook's billion-user WhatsApp, which include both voice and text functions, some legal experts said.

Law enforcement agencies forcing technology providers to rewrite software to capture and hand over data that is no longer encrypted would have major implications for the companies which see themselves as defenders of individual privacy while under pressure from police and lawmakers.

Similar issues came into play during a legal fight in 2016 between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Apple Inc over access to an iPhone owned by a slain sympathizer of Islamic State in San Bernardino, California, who had murdered county employees.

WIRETAP OF VOICE CONVERSATIONS

In the Apple case the company argued that the government could not compel it to create software to breach the phone without violating the company's First Amendment speech and expression rights. The government dropped the litigation after investigators got into the phone with a contractor's help.

Unlike the San Bernardino case, where the FBI wanted to crack one iPhone in its possession, prosecutors are seeking a wiretap of ongoing voice conversations by one person on Facebook Messenger.

Facebook is arguing in court that Messenger voice calls are encrypted end-to-end, meaning that only the 2 parties have access to the conversation, 2 of the people briefed on the case said.

Ordinary Facebook text messages, Alphabet Inc's Gmail, and other services are decrypted by the service providers during transit for targeted advertising or other reasons, making them available for court-ordered interception.

End-to-end encrypted communications, by contrast, go directly from one user to another user without revealing anything intelligible to providers.

Facebook says it can only comply with the government's request if it rewrites the code relied upon by all its users to remove encryption or hacks the government's current target, according to the sources.

Legal experts differed about whether the government would likely be able to force Facebook to comply.

Stephen Larson, a former judge and federal prosecutor who represented San Bernardino victims, said the government must meet a high legal standard when seeking to obtain phone conversations, including showing there was no other way to obtain the evidence.

Still, the US Constitution allows for reasonable searches, Larson said, and if those standards are met, then companies should not be able to stand in the way.

A federal appeals court in Washington DC ruled in 2006 that the law forcing telephone companies to enable police eavesdropping also applies to some large providers of Voice over Internet Protocol, including cable and other broadband carriers servicing homes. VoIP enables voice calls online rather than by traditional circuit transmission.

However, in cases of chat, gaming, or other internet services that are not tightly integrated with existing phone infrastructure, such as Google Hangouts, Signal and Facebook Messenger, federal regulators have not attempted to extend the eavesdropping law to cover them, said Al Gidari, a director of privacy at Stanford University Law School's Center for Internet and Society.

"A messaging platform is excluded," maintains Gidari, who is not involved in the Fresno case.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Ads heading for Messenger home screens globally

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook on Tuesday said that advertisements would begin popping up on Messenger home screens globally after promising tests with users in Australia and Thailand.

"Messenger ads are going global," the Facebook-owned mobile messaging service said in an online post.

"People will see Messenger ads in the home tab of their Messenger mobile app."

Facebook enticed businesses to take advantage of a new tool for creating ads for Messenger, which it said is used by more than 1.2 billion people monthly.

The move promised Facebook an even larger bite of the digital advertising revenue pie.

Facebook quarterly profit in the first three months of this year surged as its ranks of monthly users swelled, but the firm warned of rising expenses and slowing revenue growth.

Facebook revenue growth was expected to throttle back "significantly" this year as the social network runs out of room to post ads, chief financial officer David Wehner said during an earnings call with analysts.

Meanwhile, expenses are expected to surge 40 percent to 50 percent compared with last year as Facebook invests in data centers, research and more, he said.

The world's biggest social network and a powerhouse in online advertising, Facebook has been working to diversify its revenue base as it expands into new areas.

But advertising still accounts for the vast majority of revenues, with most of that money made from people connecting to the social network on smartphones or tablets.

Facebook's family includes the fast-growing social network Instagram and messaging applications WhatsApp and Messenger, and Oculus, which makes virtual reality gear.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Facebook's Messenger app adds live location-sharing

MENLO PARK, California - Facebook Inc added a feature to its Messenger app on Monday to allow users to share their locations continuously for up to an hour, ramping up competition with tools offered by Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google Maps.

The company has found that one of the most used phrases on Messenger as people talk to friends and family is "How far away are you?" or some variation, Stan Chudnovsky, head of product for Messenger, said in an interview.

"It happens to be what people are saying, what they're interested in the most," he said.

Sharing location information is optional, but it can also be live, so that once a user shares the information with a friend, the friend can watch the user's movement for up to 60 minutes.

Messenger was once part of the core Facebook smartphone app, but the company broke it out as a separate app in 2014 and has since invested in frequent changes to build a service distinct from the massive social network.

Google Maps said last week that it was adding a similar live feature, an attempt to boost engagement on a product of increasing strategic importance to that company.

The close proximity of the announcements tells Facebook "that we're working on the right things," Chudnovsky said.

The Messages app on Apple's iPhone has such a feature, too.

Facebook has been testing its change in Mexico, he said. It was ready as long ago as October, he added, but the company worked on it for five more months to minimize the impact on the battery life of phones.

Facebook sees the feature being used for convenience to coordinate with friends, for safety-related purposes or for other uses, Chudnovsky said. "There are all sorts of products that you can imagine you could build on top of that," he said.

The update is being made available globally, the company said.

(Reporting by David Ingram; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Andrew Hay)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Facebook Messenger hits one billion users

Facebook said Wednesday the number of users of its Messenger application had topped one billion, a key milestone as it seeks to expand the platform to new services.

The growth in Messenger gives greater reach to Facebook, which is moving to create a "family" of applications beyond the social network.

"As part of this journey to one billion, we focused on creating the best possible experiences in modern day communications," said Facebook vice president David Marcus in a statement.

"We remain focused on helping connect people to the people and businesses who matter most."

Facebook itself has more than 1.6 billion users, and WhatsApp, another messaging application acquired by Facebook for some $20 billion in 2014, also counts more than a billion users.

Other services in the Facebook "family" include Instagram, which more than 500 million use to share images, and Oculus, which makes virtual reality gear.

Marcus told AFP that Messenger's key markets include North America, Australia, Britain, France, the Philippines, Thailand and several other European countries.

Facebook has been moving to make Messenger a "platform" with other services such as "bots" that deliver news or connect with retailers or other businesses, for example.

Marcus said Messenger has some 18,000 active bots and continues to expand the platform.

Messenger can help monetization because it keeps users in the Facebook ecosystem where they can be targeted with ads.

"We will see that happens in the coming months, but I think that once you have an ecosystem that starts working between businesses and so many users on Messenger, we'll find more monetization vectors in the future," Marcus said.

"But we aren't at the stage where we are rushing to monetize."

WhatsApp, which is managed independently, does not accept advertising but is exploring ways to allow businesses to use it to connect with customers.

According to the company, Messenger is the second most popular application in Apple's iOS system behind Facebook itself.

Facebook said more than 17 billion photos are sent to friends through Messenger every month and that Messenger users have played 1.2 billion games of virtual basketball.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Facebook Messenger to offer strong encryption

WASHINGTON, United States - Facebook announced Friday it would roll out optional "end to end encryption" for its Messenger application, following a trend aimed at stronger security and protection against snooping.

The US technology giant said this feature would be known as "secret conversations" which can be read only by the sender and recipient.

"Providing more ways for people to safely share is an important part of making the world more open and connected," the social network's vice president David Marcus said on his Facebook page.

"Whether you're asking a doctor for medical advice, sending sensitive account information to your spouse, or even your Social Security number, it's important to have options available for sharing these kinds of very sensitive messages."

Facebook earlier this year began implementing this end-to-end encryption on its WhatsApp messaging service, and Google, Apple and others have been making similar moves.

Some law enforcement officials and lawmakers have criticized these moves, saying the strong encryption can allow criminals and other bad actors to operate in secret where traditional wiretaps don't work.

A Facebook statement said the new feature will be optional "because many people want Messenger to work when you switch between devices, such as a tablet, desktop computer or phone" and that the encrypted messages may only be read on one device.

"Secret conversations are available on a limited test basis right now, but we will be making the option more widely available this summer," the statement said.

The US government this year locked horns in a legal battle with Apple, seeking to compel the iPhone maker to help decrypt a device used by one of the attackers in the San Bernardino shooting rampage.

Authorities eventually dropped the case after finding a way to break into the iPhone without Apple's help.

Facebook said in April that Messenger has over 900 million users, close to the billion for WhatsApp.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Bye text message in PH? Expert weighs in as messaging apps surge

For YugaTech director Abe Olandres, the sudden surge of messaging apps caught the telecommunication industry unaware.

In the latest Ericsson Mobility Report, the top three apps in the Philippines based on monthly active users are Facebook, Facebook Messenger, and Viber. Messaging apps also topped the list for other countries in the region: WhatsApp for Singapore and Malaysia, LINE for Thailand, and BlackBerry Messenger for Indonesia.

Olandres says this boom is partly driven by OFWs and their families as this system offers an easier and cheaper channel of communication.

Viber Southeast Asia director Crystal Lee adds that stickers are an additional feature of these apps that isn’t carried by SMS. For the Philippines alone, they generated 30-40 special stickers. She says the stickers are used “when they don’t have the words to say it.”

This surge, however, may not yet be the death of text messaging as not every Filipino owns a smartphone and Internet is not reliable in many provinces.

“The telcos are able to somehow come up with new services or new bundles to compensate for the loss of revenue coming from calls and SMS,” says Olandres, as both Smart and Globe offer postpaid and prepaid promos with data allocation for messaging apps.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Facebook tests vanishing messages

SAN FRANCISCO, United States - Facebook users in France were able to send vanishing missives with its smartphone Messenger application on Thursday, ramping up the challenge to Snapchat.

"We're conducting a small test in France of a feature that allows people to send messages that disappear an hour after they're sent," Facebook told AFP.

"Disappearing messages gives people another fun option to choose from when they communicate on Messenger."

Tapping an hourglass icon on the top right of the screen in Messenger will allow users to send messages designed to vanish an hour after they are sent.

The feature is being tested on versions of the Messenger application for mobile devices powered by Apple or Android software. If it proves successful, the feature would likely be made available in other countries.

Making ephemeral messages an option in Messenger is a direct challenge to smartphone-messaging rival Snapchat.

Snapchat's appeal has been the premise that messages disappear shortly after being viewed, providing users a sense of being able to keep pictures or videos private and ephemeral.

Los Angeles-based Snapchat rocketed to popularity in the United States, especially among teenagers, after the initial app was released in September 2011.

Snapchat rejected a $3 billion takeover offer from Facebook in 2013.

Facebook earlier this year began testing a Messenger app virtual assistant that the leading social network said goes beyond artificial intelligence programs already on the market.

The personal digital assistant -- dubbed "M" -- completes tasks along with seeking out information at the behest of users.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Facebook allows users to sign up for Messenger without account

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook Inc has enabled users without an account to sign up for its Messenger app with a phone number, the social media company said on Wednesday, in another move to broaden the app's reach and make it a standalone platform.

Earlier this year, Facebook opened up Messenger to developers, and Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said he wanted to connect users directly with retailers, restaurants and other businesses.

With the latest update, users will be prompted by an option that says "Not on Facebook?" when they open the app. They can then sign up with their name, phone number and a photo.

The mobile messaging service, which has 600 million users, has added a number of new features in recent months, including games and video calling.

Facebook's flagship social network has 1.4 billion users.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Facebook rolls out free calling for iPhone users in the U.S.

Want to talk on your smartphone for free? Facebook Inc. has you covered.

On Wednesday, the company started offering free voice calling in the U.S. through the Facebook Messenger app for iPhone.

Sorry Android and Windows phone users, but for now, the service is only available on the iPhone.



The Verge was the first to notice the new development, which a Facebook spokesperson told us is an extension of the VoIP in Messenger test the company started rolling out the first week of the year.

For now, the service is only available in the U.S. and Canada.

To see how it works, my colleague Sal and I tried it out here in the office. The sound was not perfect, and the first time we used it there was a slight delay each time one of us spoke. The connection was better the second time, but the sound was a little weird.

Sal described it as "fuzzy." I'd describe it as "tinny."

To try it out the new feature, you'll need to first download the Facebook Messenger app on your phone. Open it up and tap the name of the person you want to call from your conversation list. Then hit the "i" button at the top right-hand side of your phone. There you'll find an option to make a free call if, and only if, the person you are trying to call is also using Messenger for iOS.

If the person you want to call is not on Messenger, then sorry Charlie, it's not going to work.

One final note: You will still have to pay for your data usage if you make a call over the 3G or 4G network, but if you are using Wi-Fi, the call is really free.

source: latimes.com