Messenger

Following the launch of its COVID-19 Information Center on Facebook comes a similar offering in Messenger: the new Coronavirus Community Hub. With this, Facebook Messenger users can access information related to the pandemic directly in the chatting app, including resources from government health organizations. These groups will be able to provide users with immediate automated responses to coronavirus questions and more.

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Facebook spun off its instant messaging functionality into its own app so that it could grow and evolve on its own. That did happen but, unfortunately, the app also grew in size and complexity that rivaled the main Facebook app, and not in a good way. The social media giant has recently been working to keep that overgrowth in check, mostly by producing "Lite" versions of its apps. Now it's bringing all of those lessons back to the main Messenger app on iOS that is promised to be leaner and simpler, at least on the inside.

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Years ago, Facebook emphasized the reality of bots in its Messenger app and added a then-new tab called Discover that made it easier for users to find these bots. As well, the Discover tab was used to find businesses and nearby places to message, both of which were also heavily emphasized in the app. This has changed with a recent update that quietly scrubs the tab altogether.

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Facebook today announced several new features for Messenger Kids. Like Messenger Kids in general, these features are meant to give parents (and children themselves) more control over their conversations. The biggest changes come in the form of additions to the Parent Dashboard, which give new capabilities to parents wanting to make sure their children's conversations are on the up-and-up.

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Facebook may now be better known for violating the privacy of its users but it doesn't want anyone else from doing the same. All your best efforts to set all the privacy options on Facebook are all for naught, however, the moment some inquisitive friend or relative gets a hold of your phone and, therefore, your Messenger chats. That's probably why it is apparently developing a way to securely lock your chats, using your face as the key.

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Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker premieres in theaters next week, and with a property as big as Star Wars, there are bound to be plenty of tie-ins. Today, Facebook announced one such tie-in for Messenger, which will be outfitted with a number of limited-time features for The Rise of Skywalker. New features include Star Wars-themed stickers, reactions, and even AR effects.

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Facebook is launching a new payment service, Facebook Pay, that spans not only the social network itself but Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp. While each of those services already supports payments, the company is tying them together so that users will only have to enter details once if they prefer - though there's an upside for Facebook, too.

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A potential new Snapchat alternative app "Threads" was tipped in-the-making at Facebook and Instagram. The app seems to be part of Mark Zuckerberg's vision for a private messaging tie between each of the company's main social ecosystems. That'd likely include account connections between Facebook and Instagram, but mention of WhatsApp integration was notably absent from report details.

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Back in 2016, Facebook rolled out an initiative called "Instant Games," which found some success when they were integrated within Messenger. These games allowed you start matches with other people and compete for high scores in your group chats, and some of them were actually pretty good. In its quest to make Messenger more lightweight, though, Instant Games are about to move house, and those who enjoy playing them are probably going to encounter some frustration as that happens.

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Given the growing number of young users on the Internet, that has also been a rise in apps that cater specifically to this young audience. Those range from educational or entertainment apps to parental control apps. Those, of course, have to take great care in making sure the young ones don't get exposed to harmful content. Unfortunately, just like in any other piece of software, those apps can have bugs and one found in Facebook's Messenger Kids app practically bypassed all the protection that the app promised.

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A common misconception: "Internet security isn’t important, I’ve got nothing to hide anyway." Your conversations may be trivial for now, but you never know when you and your friends or colleagues discuss matters that could be of value to someone else who shouldn’t be eavesdropping.

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Facebook Messenger is getting a desktop app for Mac and Windows, addressing one of the biggest complaints about the IM platform, as the company meshes its three messaging services. Announced at F8 2019, the social networking company's developer focused event, today, the new app will bring Facebook's newest version of Messenger to a standalone app, rather than forcing desktop users to access it in the browser.

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