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.

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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

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 to require separate mobile app for messages

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook Inc will no longer let users send and receive private messages within its main smartphone app, and will require that users install a separate messaging app, the Internet company said on Wednesday.

Facebook began notifying users in France, England and several other European countries on Wednesday that beginning in a couple of weeks they will need to install the company's standalone Messenger app in order to send and receive messages.

Facebook plans to eventually require that users in all countries install the Messenger app, spokesman Derick Mains said, though he could not provide a specific timeframe for the change.

The move is intended to ensure that users have a consistent and high-quality experience, a Facebook spokesman told Reuters. The free, standalone Messenger app is faster than the messaging service that's currently built into Facebook's primary mobile app. Facebook users can also access more features in the Messenger app, such as the ability to make voice phone calls.

"We have built a fast and reliable messaging experience through Messenger and now it makes sense for us to focus all our energy and resources on that experience," the company said in a statement.

Facebook faces increasing competition from a new crop of fast-growing mobile messaging apps, such as Snapchat and Line. It stunned observers by announcing plans in February to buy the popular WhatsApp messaging app for $19 billion.

Forcing users to install a separate messaging app on their phones could help boost the popularity of Facebook Messenger, but could also cause a backlash if consumers view Facebook's move as heavy-handed. A post on the technology blog Mashable on Wednesday was titled "11 Reasons why Pulling Messenger From Facebook Mobile is a Terrible Idea," and many people took to Twitter to post critical comments about the change.

Facebook, the world's No.1 social networking service with 1.2 billion users, has increasingly moved to develop a catalog of standalone apps to complement its main app. In January, Facebook launched Paper, a photo-heavy news-reading app that has earned positive reviews.

Facebook also acquired photo-sharing app Instagram in 2012 and announced plans to buy WhatsApp, which has more than 450 million users. News of the change in Facebook's messaging service was first reported by the technology blog TechCrunch on Wednesday. (Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Bernard Orr

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