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Meta finally kills off Messenger Lite
Following the SMS cutback in Messenger, Facebook bids farewell to Messenger Lite
For many smartphone users, apps like Messenger Lite were akin to digital havens — places where simplicity reigned, and bloatware was a distant memory. Born from a need to cater to users with limited data or those simply seeking a streamlined communication experience, Messenger Lite championed a minimalist approach to messaging. It was lightweight, both in size and functionality, offering core features for those who wanted to stay connected without the frills. However, as the tides of the digital world are often unpredictable, we now find this beloved app fading into the horizon.
End-to-end encryption will become the default on Messenger by 2024
Meta has been working on expanding E2EE since 2019
While end-to-end encryption (E2EE) is the default on the best secure messaging platforms, this hasn’t always been the case with some Meta products. Facebook Messenger, for example, only began to offer E2EE as an option for group chats and calls last year. Despite this lag, however, the company remains committed to expanding upon E2EE availability. Now, it’s aiming to make E2EE the default for one-on-one Messenger chats by the end of 2023.
Meta engineer claims Messenger is wasting your phone's battery running background tests
It’s all for 'negative testing,' you see
Facebook Messenger is one of the most popular messaging apps out there, but the service’s parent, Meta, doesn’t have the cleanest track record for upholding user interests. The social media giant is famously associated with the Cambridge Analytica scandal and has been the target of several security breaches in the last few years. Worryingly, user interests seem to remain a secondary concern for Meta — now, a former data scientist for the company claims Messenger can knowingly deplete your smartphone’s battery in the name of feature testing, potentially putting you in a dangerous position.
Telegram is working on letting you hide spoilers
You’ll finally be able to talk about Spiderman: No Way Home in your group chat
Telegram is one of the best messengers around if you care about features. It offers support for incredibly large groups (200,000 people), comes with extensive theming support, and has barely any size limits for file sharing. It looks like the developers behind the service are looking to add yet another intriguing feature none of the competitors supports: Spoiler styling for chats — finally, a way to talk about Spiderman: No Way Home.
Social apps are, unsurprisingly, the most downloaded apps across Android and iOS devices, and for the longest time, Facebook was the most popular among them. However, despite only being around since 2017, the Chinese short video app TikTok has just overtaken Zuckerberg's behemoth as the world's most downloaded app.
Facebook Messenger is learning to follow system dark mode settings
You won't have to manually switch from one mode to another when texting friends
After testing dark mode for a few months, Facebook Messenger rolled it out globally to all users in April 2019. Unfortunately, people had to manually turn it on or off in their app settings, meaning it couldn't follow your system preferences. This would have been particularly inconvenient for people who only turn on dark mode at night, for instance, as they would have to manually switch their Messenger settings as well. Thankfully, the app is starting to receive a new feature, allowing it to follow Android's global settings instead of manually having to fiddle with the app's color scheme.
Facebook Messenger becomes the third non-Google app to reach 5 billion installs on the Play Store
Following Facebook and WhatsApp
With the popularity of Android, plenty of applications have managed to cross over the one billion installs threshold on the Play Store. It's a lot more selective in the five billion-plus club, which only two non-Google apps have ever succeeded in joining. You can finally bump that count up to three, as Facebook Messenger achieved a new milestone for installs just this week.
Don't expect Facebook Messenger or Instagram Direct to add end-to-end encryption anytime soon
The company refers to it as a "long-term project"
End-to-end encrypted conversations aren't just for whistleblowers and government officials. These days, more users than ever before are aware of how vital it is to keep conversations away from prying eyes. Apps like Signal and Telegram gained huge new followings earlier this year after WhatsApp botched a privacy policy update, calling attention to the importance of implementing extra security for communication tools. Today, Facebook recommitted to bringing end-to-end encryption to both Messenger and Instagram Direct, but it could take longer than some users are willing to wait.
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Signal has always been heralded as the security-aware alternative to WhatsApp and Co. due to its open-source nature, but the nonprofit behind the chat app hasn't always stuck to its original open-source promises. While it regularly publishes the code of its client apps, Signal failed to update the Github repository for its server for almost a year, as reported by German publication Golem — though earlier today, the company pushed out an update with a more recent release.
Signal starts catching up to WhatsApp by adding custom wallpapers and animated stickers (APK Download)
Rolling out in stable
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With WhatsApp's recent Facebook-induced privacy woes, Signal and Telegram are enjoying their time in the spotlight. Signal's privacy focus has specifically appealed to a lot of users who decided to switch away from WhatsApp, with the app seeing unprecedented growth and topping global app charts worldwide. But many of those newly-acquired users have quickly noticed Signal's limited feature set, forcing the app's devs to rush and try to plug some holes to keep everyone hooked. A few new features were promised two weeks ago, they showed up in beta last week and are now live in the latest stable version of the app.
Instagram's integrated Messenger gains vanish mode, chat themes, and Watch Together
Instagram’s new chat experience is continuing to roll out while getting more feature-complete
Facebook promised that it would make messaging easier across all of its apps last year, and we've already seen evidence that the company was working on integrating Facebook Messenger with Instagram. The company made that move official at the end of September, introducing what it's calling a new Messenger experience on Instagram. And now, Instagram is adding a few more of the features initially promised, like Watch Together, chat themes, and vanish mode.
Instagram and Messenger jump on the ephemeral chat bandwagon with Vanish Mode
Sorry, you didn't read this subhead in time and it's gone now
Everyone wants to disappear sometimes — or at the very least, make some embarrassing comment of theirs disappear. Facebook is making that a bit easier by borrowing a feature from Snapchat that makes it possible to send messages that don't stick around. The new "vanish mode" for Messenger and Instagram promises to make messaging a more "spontaneous" experience, and it's starting to roll out now.
WhatsApp is rolling out peer-to-peer payments in India
Using the country’s Universal Payments Interface for transactions
WhatsApp has been working on a mobile payment solution in India for a long time, with the first test runs starting all the way back in 2018. After this extensive period of trials and an unrelated (attempted) launch of the feature in Brazil, the time has finally come — Facebook has announced that it's launching Payments on WhatsApp in India.
Telegram and Signal have had disappearing messages for a long time, and even Facebook's own Messenger lets you set delete timers on messages in secrets chats. Now WhatsApp has announced that it's joining its competitors — ephemeral messages are rolling out to the stable version of WhatsApp today.
Facebook Messenger attempts to keep things fresh with new logo and smattering of features
Look, it has a gradient now!
Facebook has been working on unifying Instagram's messaging system with its own Facebook Messenger app since earlier this summer, and now the company is announcing a refreshed look for Messenger complete with new chat themes, custom reactions, and a more colorful logo.
Facebook Messenger's Watch Together will let you — do we really need to spell this out?
Watch your friends cry at puppy videos in real time
We're all trying to feel more connected online these days — the loneliness is strong. Sometimes the group chats and video calls aren't enough, and you wish you could just sit back and watch videos with your friends. Luckily for you, Facebook is continuing its trend of personal connection updates with the launch of Watch Together, a feature that will allow you to view videos simultaneously with a group.
Facebook starts integrating Messenger with Instagram
Will the company soon invite WhatsApp to the party, too?
Early last year, Facebook promised that it would create a unified backend for all of its messaging platforms. Messenger, Instagram direct messages, and WhatsApp are all supposed to be interoperable, so you wouldn't have to worry about which Facebook app to use with which of your contacts. It looks like the company is getting ready to make these cross-platform chats a reality, as it has started distributing a popup on Instagram that advertises a Messenger integration.
With much of the world having to isolate for an extended period, video conferencing has become ever more popular as people find new ways to stay connected with their family and friends. To keep up with demand, services like Messenger and Google Meet have needed to roll out new features to compete. Facebook added rooms to its messaging platform earlier this year, as well as screen sharing when on the web. As of today, you'll be able to share your mobile screen too.
First evidence of WhatsApp integration pops up in Facebook Messenger
Messaging between all of Facebook’s apps might soon be a reality
Early last year, we got word that Facebook was considering cross-platform chats between WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook Messenger, running on a unified, encrypted backend. After the first small steps towards compatibility in the form of Messenger Rooms in WhatsApp, we now see this cross-app integration taking shape. According to WABetaInfo, a few hints have appeared in Facebook Messenger that reveal how the company is working on a way to contact WhatsApp users through the app.
Microsoft Teams for personal use is now in preview on Android
Use it to connect with friends and family or organize your life
Microsoft has been offering a free, restricted version of Microsoft Teams since 2018, but it never really felt like a tool you'd use to organize your family or personal events — it was mainly targeted at freelancers and small teams. After a year worth of work and an announcement during its big Microsoft 365 reveal, the Redmond company is now ready to unleash a preview version of Microsoft Teams on consumers. As soon as it's rolled out, anyone can sign up for it, but you'll only be able to take full advantage of the service when you're a Microsoft 365 subscriber.