Facebook Messenger iPhone

Facebook's instant messaging for iPhone

What was born as a small online experiment for North American college and university students back in 2004 has become one of the greatest technological empires of the twenty-first century. It's not only that social network that we used to upload all our photos expecting to receive loads of likes to make our day, but it now covers a full set of related functionalities and applications that have turned Facebook into an Internet giant.

Some years ago, one of the most appreciated functions between its users was its chat, with which we can talk and exchange messages with all our contacts on the social network. Well, that added feature that we started to discover back then when we still used FB from our browser has evolved into one of the most powerful instant messaging applications on the market. First, built into its respective mobile apps for Android and iPhone, and now as standalone applications both in APK format and its iOS version, without forgetting about the release of the official desktop clients for Windows PC and macOS.

Just like the old SMS, but without paying a cent.

We're obviously talking about Facebook Messenger, that chat and messaging tool that has followed the logical evolution of other apps in its sector such as WhatsApp, Telegram, WeChat or LINE. Now it's not only dedicated to written communications but over time it has also implemented voice calls and video conferences, as well as other options that we consider a given thing in other apps of this nature: messages, photos, videos, audio notes, locations, GIFs, emojis, etc.

Main features

The version for iPhone and iPad of this messaging application comes along with other features and functions that we can enjoy on other platforms, with the exception that here we won't find a Lite version. Why should I need something like that if my iOS device is a mean machine?

• Chat with your Facebook contacts and with any other person on your contact list.
• Send messages, photos, selfies, videos, audio notes, animated GIFs... with a simple screen tap.
• Share your location so that your friends can know where you are.
• Forward multimedia files to your contacts that weren't in the original conversation.
• Receive notifications each time somebody talks to you or disable them if you don't want to be interrupted.
• Take part in group chats with hundreds of users.
• Find out when a contact views the message you've sent and see who is active at that moment.
• Make free phone calls over VoIP even to contacts in other countries.
• Start a Skype-like video conference straight from your phone.
• Liven up your conversations with loads of emojis and emoticons, as well as sticker packs.
• Create shortcuts to your favorite conversations and groups.
• Enjoy the different games available within the application.
• Centralize all your messages, SMS, and instant messaging within the same app.
• Invite your friends to join Messenger so that you can abandon WhatsApp once and for all (yeah, right).

Bots also arrive on Messenger

Following suit to other instant messaging apps such as Telegram, Kik or WeChat, in mid-2016, and during the F8 developer conference, Zuckerberg and his mates announced the launch of a platform to create bots so that any other developer could take advantage of Facebook's artificial intelligence and its API to create these small programs that simulate human behavior. Thus, FB wants to make the most of this technology and its implementation on Messenger to offer the user chatbots capable of answering our questions and petitions as if they were yet another contact, carry out online purchases for us, checking Wikipedia, playing games, or simply keeping us entertained 24/7.

What's new in the latest version

• Fixes blocks to improve the experience.
• Performance improvements to remove latency.

Requirements and additional information:

• Minimum operating system requirements: iOS 11.0.
• Compatible with:
  • iPhone
  • iPad
  • iPod touch