Disappearing messages will soon be a part of Messenger and Instagram

Posted on by Prakhar Khanna

Facebook is not yet done borrowing features from other apps. After being ‘inspired’ to add TikTok-like Reels and Snapchat-like stories, the company is moving towards integrating yet another Snapchat feature to its apps. This time around, Facebook is adding disappearing messages to its Messenger and Instagram. It is calling the new feature ‘Vanish mode’. It comes as a major redesign to Messenger that was announced by Facebook in September.

Vanish mode allows users to send texts, photos, voice messages, emoji, and stickers that disappear automatically. These messages will disappear after they’re seen and you leave the chat, with no traces left in your chat history. The new Vanish mode is opt-in only, and you have to acknowledge the feature before using it with someone in a chat. 

To turn it on, you need to swipe up on your mobile device in an existing chat thread and you’re in vanish mode. Swipe up again and you’re back to your regular chat. Further, if someone takes a screenshot of your conversation, you’ll be notified. And, if a message is reported, it will be included for up to one hour after it disappears in the report.

“Sometimes a message is just spontaneous – something you want to say in the moment without worrying about it sticking around. That’s why we’re excited to introduce vanish mode on Messenger, which lets you send messages that disappear automatically. How it works is simple—messages disappear after they’re seen and you leave the chat,” wrote Facebook.

Vanish mode is slowly rolling out on Messenger and Instagram. It is already available on Messenger in the US and a handful of other countries, and it’s coming soon to more places. Vanish mode on Instagram will be coming to the US and other countries soon, when you update to the “new Messenger experience.”

Source

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Instagram chat update brings cross-platform messaging experience with Messenger

Posted on by Nadeem Sarwar

Facebook’s grand plans of deeper integration and interoperability between all its properties are edging to closer to reality at a breakneck pace. Just a day ago, the company introduced Accounts Center across Facebook, Instragram and Messenger that will bring facilities such as the abilitiy to cross-share Facebook posts and Stories simultaneously on Instagram, a unified login experience and seamless Facebook Pay credential transfer across the apps. Today, Facebook has announced a major messaging experience overhaul for Instagram that will allow cross-platform messaging between Instagram and Messenger. 

You can send a text from Messenger to Instagram, or from Instagram to Messenger. To recall, a Messenger button started appearing in the Instagram app users last month. Additionally, the messaging experience on Instagram has received a much-needed overhaul too. But before we talk about them, it must be noted that the new experience on Instagram is an opt-in feature, which means users can choose to update to this look, but once they do, they can not go back to the older look. So, let’s get to the point.

The key change, of course, is that you can send a message using the Messenger app and it will land in the Instagram inbox of your friend, or vice versa, even if you don’t have one of these apps installed on your phone. Facebook assures that messages and calls you receive directly on Instagram will continue to stay in the Instagram app separately. Plus, you will be able to control whether you want messages and calls from Messenger to appear in your chats or in the message requests section. Or, you can simply choose to disable it. 

As mentioned above, Facebook is also bring some key Messenger features over to the Instagram app. Here are some of them:

  • Message forwarding, finally! You can forward messages to up to five contacts in the Instagram app.
  • There’s a new Vanish Mode that will cause a message to disappear after the message has been seen or you close the chat.
  • You can control who can send you direct messages, and block others selectively.
  • Instagram users can now respond directly to a message in their ongoing conversation.
  • Instagram users can now watch videos on Facebook Watch, IGTV, TV shows, movies, and more together with friends during a video call. 
  • You can now use boomerang stickers with your selfie and send them in your chats.
  • Instagram now lets users create a shortcut of their most frequently used emojis to quickly access them. 

Facebook says it is testing the new Instagram experience ‘in a few countries around the world’ and is also planning to expand it globally, but there is no word when that will happen. 

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Messenger Rooms now lets you broadcast live on Facebook

Posted on by Nadeem Sarwar

Almost every social media service is doubling down on the potential of live video and group video calling, thanks to the new normal, and Facebook is not one to be left behind. The social media juggernaut has today announced that users can now broadcast live directly from Messenger Rooms. The feature is now available worldwide on Facebook and Messenger web starting today, and will soon arrive on the mobile and desktop apps as well.

Those who create a room can broadcast live alongside up to 50 people, and can broadcast it on a profile, page or group. As for the audience, even those who don’t have a Facebook account can join in. The user who creates the room controls whether the broadcast is shared on Facebook, and can also remove or add people during the live broadcast.

Additionally, there will also be an option to lock or unlock a room during a live session. As for the participants, they have the choice to leave the room before the broadcast starts. Other Facebook viewers who stumble upon a live broadcast can report it if they think the content violates Facebook’s policies, and the company may itself collect audio and video samples for review.

Source: Messenger News

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Facebook Messenger can now protect your chats behind Face ID or fingerprint pattern

Posted on by Nadeem Sarwar

In a bid to make your Messenger chats more secure, Facebook has introduced a new feature called App Lock that adds a layer of biometric security. As of now, it is only available on the Messenger app for iPhone and iPad, and relies on Touch ID or Face ID to unlock your chats when you open the app.

However, Facebook says App Lock will soon make its way to the Android ecosystem in the next few months. If you have the Messenger app installed on your iPhone or iPad, and want to enable the feature, just open the app and switch the App Lock toggle inside the Privacy section of the app’s Settings menu. Facebook is also working on a few additional privacy features for the app that will arrive in a few months.

One of them will let users “decide who can message or call you directly, who goes to your requests folder, and who can’t message or call you at all.” There is also another feature that will blur images in your message requests folder when someone you don’t know sends a message, giving you an option to view the message before replying, blocking, or reporting the account.

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Facebook Messenger brings screen sharing support on its Android and iOS apps

Posted on by Nadeem Sarwar
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Facebook has today announced that Messenger users can now share their phone or tablet’s screen with friends during a video call or in Messenger Rooms chats. Following the announcement, screen sharing is now live on the Messenger app for Android, iOS, desktop as well as the web version.

Users can now share their screen activity such as scrolling their phone’s phone library, online shopping experience, or browsing social media with up to eight people in a group video call. However, if you want to share your screen activity with more people, you can head over to Messenger Rooms to let up to 16 people view your screen.

Facebook says it will soon allow users to control who they want to share their screen with, in Messenger Rooms. Additionally, the company says it will soon increase the number of people you can share your phone’s screen with, from 16 to 50. Needless to say, this feature will come in handy while trying to teach a few smartphone tricks to your not-so-tech-savvy uncles and aunts.

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Facebook testing Face ID or Touch ID locking for Messenger

Posted on by Anton D. Nagy

Facebook is reportedly testing a feature that would allow Messenger users to lock their inbox and keep prying eyes away. In order to gain access to the conversations, users will need to authenticate with either Face ID or Touch ID.

This functionality has been rolled out on Facebook-owned WhatsApp last year, and it is basically offering the same extra layer of protection.

In the case of Facebook Messenger, the app will require a passcode, Face ID, or Touch ID authentication either immediately after leaving the app, or at a specific interval.

We want to give people more choices and controls to protect their private messages, and recently, we began testing a feature that lets you unlock the Messenger app using your device’s settings. It’s an added layer of privacy to prevent someone else from accessing your messages.

Facebook spokesperson cited by Engadget

The feature is currently being tested on a limited number of iOS users, but it will likely roll-out to a wider target audience via an app update in the near future.

Via: Engadget

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Mark Zuckerberg, deleted Facebook Messenger conversations and an “Unsend” controversy

Posted on by Jules Wang

Several sources say the Facebook CEO's messages have been deleted from the app. This prompts the company to go public with a new feature, but it misses a huge point.

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FTC starts private investigation into Facebook privacy concerns

Posted on by Jules Wang

Among many of them is the fact that Facebook collected the metadata of Android users' phone calls and text messages. The company says it was an opt-in procedure, but screenshots make the practice more vague than it seems.

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BlackBerry wants Facebook to pay for alleged infringement of messaging app patents

Posted on by Adrian Diaconescu

BlackBerry Limited is on a suing spree, and the Canadian company's latest target is also its most high-profile yet. Facebook doesn't seem willing to settle either.

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Facebook Messenger Kids lets children chat with pre-approved contacts in total safety

Posted on by Adrian Diaconescu

Facebook has a new children-friendly instant messaging app available as a preview on US iPads, iPhones and iPod Touches, aptly named Messenger Kids.

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