Facebook's plans to become an empire of mobile apps got a little more interesting today as the company began notifying users in a few European countries that in two weeks, they won't be able to message friends through the Facebook app anymore. They'll need to download Messenger for iOS or Android to do so, the company's popular chat app. The messages button will remain in the Facebook app, but will boot users out to Messenger when tapped.
A Facebook spokesperson confirmed to The Verge that stripping Messenger out of the main Facebook app is not a test, and will at some point in the near future happen in every country. There are a few exceptions to the new rule, however. First, lower-end Android devices with memory constraints won't be required to download Messenger. Second, Windows Phone and tablet users will still see messages inside their Facebook apps. Third, messaging will remain, for now, inside Paper, the company's recently launched news app. We would assume that Facebook will at some point update the aforementioned apps to remove messaging — perhaps if and when Messenger is launched for tablets.
Chatting in Messenger is a far better experience than in Facebook's main app, but some users might be disappointed by the fact that they now need two Facebook apps instead of one. In an age where home screen real estate value is at its peak, finding a place for one more app could be annoying. But, as Facebook divorces Messenger from its primary experience, it will likely be able to add many more features, like free calling, which the company recently rolled out to Messenger. It might also mean that Facebook will shrink the size of its main app, making it work faster and at the very least clearing up a few MB's on your device. "Once the while process is complete, we expect the core apps to be faster," said the spokesperson.
Even after its acquisition of WhatsApp for over $15 billion, it's more obvious than ever that Facebook is committed to its messaging game plan. It makes sense given the fact that Messenger excels in some countries where WhatsApp does not.
Comments
Looks like I won’t be messaging people on Facebook from my phone anymore.
By callsoutidiots on 04.09.14 3:57pm
Looks like you’re the one on the losing end here because the Messenger app is fantastic.
By Ammar.M on 04.09.14 4:03pm
IDK what you use, but the Android app is horrible, (for messneger, significantly worse than facebook) waking up my Note 3 a ridiculous amount of times. It supports GCM cloud messaging, but if greenified doesn’t work for me.
This is a lose lose for me.
By JesseDegenerate on 04.09.14 4:21pm
That’s pretty loose.
By Chird on 04.09.14 4:22pm
this is why you should wait a min before commenting. I saw it and fixed it, sorry.
By JesseDegenerate on 04.09.14 4:22pm
You shouldn’t have said anything to make him look like the idiot. THE TABLES ARE TURNED, ChirdXtreme.
By janderson215 on 04.09.14 9:52pm
The real reason this is happening. iPhone.
In separate news yesterday it was finally traced to the Facebook app on iPhone as the reason for killing its pathetic battery.
Apparently though the app is also problematic for Android battery.
Ha, ha, ha. Time to get a Windows phone.
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/apr/08/facebook-app-revealed-to-be-cause-of-iphone-battery-woes
By mmjanitor on 04.09.14 11:18pm
The Facebook app in general is a piece of shit. With each update something gets broken. Even some of my friends using iOS devices say it’s a kak app. Some even stick to the mobile website.
By Johan Fourie on 04.10.14 3:40am
The WP one is written by Microsoft, and therefore isn’t bad. Bloat free. :D
By sheppo on 04.10.14 6:50am
But it is also lagging behind other platforms.
By convergentwatt on 04.10.14 8:27am
The WP Messenger app is also pretty good
By ChernobylChild on 04.10.14 8:29pm
Thats not true. Many iPhones experienced battery drain and did not have Facebook apps installed. With that said both Facebook and the Messenger apps suck. I removed the messenger app a long time ago because it was a bloated mess. I kept the main one on just because it was somewhat useful.
By Rowdyguy124 on 04.10.14 9:21am
I don’t think it’s fair for others to wait a minute before commenting when the comment is already posted and shown. Possible fixes:
- Change the commenting system (on Verge’s end) so that the comment doesn’t appear immediately. Only the author can see the comment for one minute as he/she is given time to edit.
- Author proof-reads his/her comment before hitting the post button.
That said, I’ve also made errors like you did, so kudos for owning up to it.
By vinzer on 04.09.14 11:01pm
You mean it doesn’t work when you block it from working?
By Garredow on 04.09.14 4:22pm
read what you quoted, then learn about how greenify works, come back and talk to me.
By JesseDegenerate on 04.09.14 4:23pm
If it stops working when you Greenify the app, then……….
By Garredow on 04.09.14 4:25pm
reading about greenify is that hard?
https://plus.google.com/112105199234363320140/posts/Gz4TB2fAUV5
By JesseDegenerate on 04.09.14 4:27pm
Irrelevant. As you said above, the app stops working when you Greenify it. Therefore, Greenify breaks it. Also, note the phrase “experimental feature”.
By Garredow on 04.09.14 4:29pm
it’s supposed to, as messenger uses GCM, allowing; if it worked for the best of both worlds. This is relevant.
Thanks though, for taking time to try and prove me wrong (when i was right) on a small portion of my comment, on a product you seem to know little about.
By JesseDegenerate on 04.09.14 4:31pm
sigh… I don’t understand how you aren’t getting this. You complain that GCM doesn’t work only when you Greenify Facebook Messenger yet insist that Greenify isn’t the thing breaking it.
Instead of trying to make you understand this, let’s troubleshoot. do you have the donate version of Greenify? You need it for GCM support.
By Garredow on 04.09.14 4:46pm
lol.
/yes, xposed user with the modual, fb works this way with GCM.
By JesseDegenerate on 04.10.14 9:27am
The thing is this is modifying the apps intended and tested functionality. It isn’t fair to blame Messenger.
By Caprica on 04.09.14 5:43pm
this is a fair reply, and that’s true. But overall, my initial post was more about it’s battery usage in general, even sans greenify.
People just like looking up 3 paragraphs at XDA (like ecMan below) and thinking they know as much about how apps behave as people who’ve used them daily for months.
By JesseDegenerate on 04.10.14 9:27am
If you read the XDA posts on it, in bold it says to not greenify Instant Messaging apps… Also, if you read the changelogs, you’ll see that there are bugs with greenifying apps that use Push Notifications. Also, if you read the FAQ, it mentions that there are issues with Push Notifications and greenify, even the paid version… For example, one of the issues revolves around token expiration and renewal. Push notifications requires the app to register for push notifications from GCM. It can specify it’s own duration length when registering a token. If the app is greenified, there is a chance the token can expire, and isn’t renewed if the app is hibernated, which means it will fail to receive new messages. This issue is even pointed out in the FAQ.
By ecMaN on 04.09.14 7:52pm
while i appreciate you trying to make me look like i don’t know how to use it, there are different rules for different versions of greenify.
the main thread is dedicated to the root version of the app.
i use the paid for version, with the xposed modual.
Anyway, have a good day, lol.
By JesseDegenerate on 04.10.14 9:31am