Remember when Facebook forced us to download Messenger to chat with friends and make calls? Now, the company wants to bring video and voice calls back into the main app.
According to a report by Bloomberg, starting this week, some users will be able to make voice and video calls directly from the app. While currently, this is just a test, the company said this feature will be “reduce the need to jump back and forth between Facebook’s main app and its Messenger service. The tables have changed.
In 2014, Facebook started pushing towards Messenger by stopping the chat feature in the main app. Since then, the chat app has earned more than 1.3 billion monthly active users.
With the rise of platforms like TikTok, coupled with the huge growth of Instagram, time spent on the blue app has shrunk over the years. To entice people to spend more time, the company has experimented with including music videos, audio products, and even The short video product of Instagram Reels in the main app.
This test also points towards the company’s mega vision of integrating all of its apps and services. Last year, he began merging DMs from Instagram and Facebook Messenger. Additionally, he plans to bring WhatsApp into the integration game. The company may not stand still until we are able to distinguish Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Did you know we have a consumer technology newsletter? It’s called Plugged In and you can sign up here.