Instant Messaging Evolves on Facebook: New Tools for Messenger

Facebook has added a host of new messaging features to Messenger and Instagram. These come in the form of new themes, as well as improved audio messaging on Facebook Messenger.

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Two New Themes Added to Messenger and Instagram

In a press release on theFacebook Newsroom , the company announced the release of two new chat themes. The new themes are based on Star Wars and Netflix’s Selena: The Series.

These themes stylize the background of Messenger and Instagram chats to make them more appealing for fans of the franchises. Furthermore, they could be used as a way to promote the series as well.

Along with new themes, Facebook has also added new camera stickers to Messenger and Messenger Kids that celebrate the “diversity and impact of Asian and Pacific Islanders (API).”

Using these stickers, the company hopes to raise awareness around the issues that plague the API community. In addition to this, the stickers are meant to help kids explore the culture, values, and unique traditions across API countries. In order to help parents inform their kids and raise awareness around API culture, Facebook has also released a sticker reference guide that explains the significance of each sticker.

Hands-Free Audio Messaging in Messenger

Facebook acknowledged the popularity of audio messaging on Messenger and to make it easier, it has added a tap-to-record feature. Using this, users will no longer have to hold down the record button when sending audio messages.

The feature is only available on Messenger right now but Facebook plans to launch it on Instagram in the near future.

Facebook states that this new feature will allow users to focus on other tasks while simultaneously recording an audio message.

Coming to Instagram, the company has added a “visual reply” feature that allows users to reply to messages using a photo or video of their choice. Currently, the feature has only made its way to iOS, but Facebook hopes to release it on Android as well.

New Inbox Management Features

Both Messenger and Instagram have received some inbox-centric changes.

On Instagram, users will now get a read receipt snippet that shows whether their message has been read or not. Facebook calls this the “inbox seen states” feature. Essentially, you won’t have to open the chat to see whether your friends have seen your message or not, it will be visible in the inbox itself.

In order to make better organize their inbox in Messenger, users can simply swipe on a chat to archive it. To complement this, a new Archived Chats section has been added where all these chats can be easily accessed.

While these new features cannot be called overhauls, they will definitely help improve the overall user experience. Especially, features such as tap-to-record and the new read receipts on Instagram.