Facebook brings Messenger to Oculus because we all love chatting on VR headsets

Posted on by Nadeem Sarwar

Facebook has today announced that it is bringing Messenger to its Oculus line of VR headsets. For now, it appears that the Facebook-owned messaging service will only be accessible on the Quest and its Quest 2 successor, and not the older offerings such as Quest Go, Rift, and Rift S. 

The older Oculus Go, Rift, and Rift S VR headsets have been left out

And just in case you’re wondering, you can rely on voice-to-text or bank on some pre-written conversation templates, if the idea of typing a message using the controllers sounds horrifying. Also, the person you are chatting with – while the Quest headset is mounted on your brian box – doesn’t need to wear a VR headset. Just saying!

Messenger on VR headsets – but why though?

The arrival of Messenger on the Oculus VR platform is more of a minor convenience than a necessity. It will come in handy if you want to send a quick invite to your friend to join you in a VR game. Or, you just seek to respond to a few Messenger texts in a jiffy without having to take your VR headset off. But that’s from a user’s perspective.

From Facebook’s viewpoint, the more services it can integrate and interlink, the merrier. Remember the grand Instagram-Facebook-WhatsApp interoperability plans? Well, the Oculus VR platform now appears to be a part of it as well. 

Signing in and out of Messenger on the VR headset will be easy if you share it with others

However, Facebook assures that chatting with friends over Messenger via a compatible Quest VR headset won’t impact the existing Oculus privacy settings. Plus, Facebook is leaving the Oculus Chats service untouched, so you can still make use of your Oculus username for communicating with your friends in the VR world.

Furthermore, if you share with your Oculus Quest or Quest 2 with a family member and worry about your privacy, you can easily sign out of Messenger on the headset. Just don’t forget it though, because the next time you want to engage in a VR-fueled Messenger conversation, you’ll have to re-enter it if you previously signed out of the instant messaging service.

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Facebook limits message forwarding to just five chats at a time on Messenger

Posted on by Nadeem Sarwar

Back in January last year, WhatsApp announced that it will be limiting the ability to forward messages to just five chats. It was followed by another revision in April this year, restricting message forwards to just one chat at a time. All this was done to curb the spread of fake news, misinformation and whack conspiracy theories such as the one that linked the COVID-19 outbreak to 5G. Today, Facebook has announced a similar initiative that limits the ability to forward messages to just five people or groups at a time on Messenger. 

“Limiting forwarding is an effective way to slow the spread of viral misinformation and harmful content that has the potential to cause real world harm,” Facebook says in an official blog post. The social media giant adds that it is imposing a limit on message forwards to foil the efforts of bad actors aiming to cause chaos and undermine accurate information. The decision has been taken in view of the coronavirus pandemic (and the spread of linked conspiracy theories) as well as the upcoming elections in the US, New Zealand and other countries.

Talking about elections, Facebook has today also announced that it won’t accept new political ads in the week preceding the US elections. Additionally, the company also mentioned that it will remove posts that discourage people from voting by fanning coronavirus fears.

Earlier this month, Facebook introduced its Voting Information Center on its eponymous platform, Instagram and Messenger to help users discover accurate and easy-to-find information about voting wherever they live. This was preceded by the company boosting security on Messenger by adding support for Face ID or fingerprint recognition to protect chats. Back in July, Messenger also landed a screen-sharing tool that allowed users to share their phone or tablet’s screen with friends during a video call or in Messenger Rooms chats.

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First signs of a unified Instagram and Messenger chat finally appear with the latest update

Posted on by Nadeem Sarwar

At the F8 conference in 2019, Facebook confirmed its plan to offer a unified chat experience that merges Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp conversations via interoperability. Now, the first sign of that merger has appeared via an Instagram update for users, which also adds a dedicated Messenger button that replaces the regular DM icon in the top right corner.

The update message mentions the following four changes:

  • New colorful look for your chats
  • React with any emoji
  • Swipe to reply to messages
  • Chat with friends who use Facebook

Even though the Messenger button now appears in the Instagram app, cross-platform chat between Messenger and Instagram is not available yet, at least for now. Reports claim that end-to-end encryption would be a crucial element of the amalgamated WhatsApp-Instagram-Messenger experience, and that work on building the underlying infrastructure will still take some time before it arrives for end users.

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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’s Messenger Rooms with 50-person group video calling support goes global

Posted on by Lee Kelly

Facebook has today announced that Messenger Rooms, the company’s own Zoom rival, is now available to users across the globe. The video calling tool, which supports up to 50 participants without any time limit, can be accessed from the Facebook and Messenger mobile apps (for Android and iOS) as well as the Messenger desktop app (Windows and macOS).

There are a lot of privacy-centric features too, such as the ability to lock the room, remove certain people, and specify who can see and join the group video call. Users can send invite links to people who can join even if they don’t have a Facebook account. Facebook is obviously taking a few lessons from Zoom, but the social media giant also has the benefit of a much larger user base.

For added convenience, users can share the video conferencing rooms in News Feed, Groups, and Events on Facebook. The company also plans to let users start a Messenger Rooms group video call from Instagram Direct and WhatsApp too, but there is no word when that will materialize.

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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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Facebook Messenger starts showing AI-powered suggestions on Android and iOS

Posted on by Adrian Diaconescu

It took quite a while for Facebook Messenger to officially join the AI game, with the M digital assistant available now in the US.

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Facebook Messenger Day is the latest Snapchat Stories copycat for Android and iOS

Posted on by Adrian Diaconescu

Frames, effects, stickers, easy photo and video sharing, all available for just 24 hours. This Facebook Messenger Day thing sure sounds familiar.

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WhatsApp video calling support is rolling out to a billion+ users in the ‘coming days’

Posted on by Adrian Diaconescu

While Google has basically separated its Hangouts communication features into two new apps recently, keeping Allo focused on text and Duo on video chat, Facebook wants both its own-brand Messenger service and 2014-acquired WhatsApp IM client to do it all.

The latter debuted back in 2010 with only fundamental text messaging support in tow, gradually growing to integrate Group Chat and voice calling functionality into its still very basic, very simple cross-platform UI.

After over a year of speculation and closed beta tests, WhatsApp Video Calling is now also rolling out to its “more than one billion users” across Android, iPhone, and Windows Phone devices. That’s pretty much all you need to know, as Facebook isn’t looking to clutter the encrypted instant messaging app with any other fancy new bells and whistles.

The video call initiation and termination buttons are easy to locate, and overall, there’s nothing to confuse even the most inexperienced smartphone user. WhatsApp wants to “make these features available to everyone, not just those who can afford the most expensive new phones or live in countries with the best cellular networks” so you can watch “your grandchild take her first steps, or see your daughter’s face while she’s studying abroad.”

Pretty noble goal, but you’ll still probably need a reliable network and decent phone to enjoy a smooth, crisp video chat.

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Google launches Jibe RCS cloud service with Sprint

Posted on by Jules Wang

The GSM Association will officially launch Rich Communications Services as an advanced SMS replacement on November 17.

While RCS and SMS will be compatible in some ways, the former standard will allow for iMessage-like features like file transfers, audio messaging, video sharing, conference calling, location sharing and live sketching. Well, it won’t be anywhere near as amazing as Invisible Ink or lasers, but as applied to an interoperable standard, we’ll take it.

Over 150 devices on the market currently are capable are supporting the RCS. 58 carriers worldwide will be on the launch pad — in the US, Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile have signed onto the new standard.

Here’s where the fragmentation begins, though: Google has decided to offer its own cloud servers for RCS — a service it brands as Jibe — and has been able to recruit Sprint to use them to launch its service. Starting next year, all Android phones on the network will come pre-loaded with Google’s Messenger app “as the default SMS and RCS messaging experience.” Some LG and Nexus phones will support RCS chat right now with a Messenger update, now in distribution.

Google has been pushing Jibe hard to other carriers and is expecting to nail more deals down soon — the big G gets money from carriers while the carriers don’t have to worry about maintaining their own servers as they’ve done with SMS. In terms of the competitive scene, security and privacy, that’s a ball of yarn within itself.

Of course, this drags Mountain View’s approach to messaging on Android into focus as we see Google’s Messenger become just a little more like iMessage and Facebook Messenger just by being a default. Allo, which has the quickest potential to provide way more advanced messaging features in combination with access to service bots like Google Assistant, is arguably trying to cannibalize users from “the default.” And Hangouts? Well, it’s a hot enterprise mess that’s still trying to figure out where to go now.

As The Verge‘s Dieter Bohn describes the situation, Messenger is more a play for carriers while Google is attempting to keep itself in the consumer convenience market with Allo. At this point, we doubt consumers are noticing a difference between the two that will make them switch in droves.

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One billion people now use Facebook Messenger every month around the world

Posted on by Adrian Diaconescu

With Pokémon Go already considered the most popular mobile game in history, at least stateside, as well as bigger than both Tinder and Twitter in terms of daily users, and even topping Facebook as far as average time spent hunting goes, it feels fitting to remind the world of other things they can do on their phones.For instance, “make plans, share dreams, send payments, tell jokes, play games, and let their loved ones know they’re thinking of them”, which are only a few of Facebook Messenger’s ...

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