A brand new Messenger

If happiness also means finding many things you wanted in one space, Facebook Messenger would have a whole lot of happy people on earth soon. Globally this week, Messenger comes to its users in a revamped version on Android and iOS. More precisely, on offer is a more organised way of things one could access. Plus, from now on, one need not bother about switching one tab after the other to simultaneously operate Facebook, Messenger and Instagram. With cross-app notifications turned on, all three are testing a feature that displays other apps in a notification counter.

“This way if you miss or dismiss an alert when you first receive it, or you don’t get push notification from every type of activity, you’ll still see that red number lingering in the corner, beckoning your attention,” explains Techcrunch. In the next line, it points out the obvious for those red-button intolerants. That it may evoke more hate as the unread stuff remain there, taking the anxiety level up and tickle them every second to go and see what lies there.

Messenger has got a more tailored appearance on home screen. Top of the screen is occupied by messages, active, and groups. Bottom space is populated with home, calls, people, and games. In head of Messenger David Marcus’ words, “The new home screen still has all your favourite features but is now organised around making Messenger your hub for connecting with all the people and businesses you care about.” In this note that appeared on his Facebook account, he also mentions a Discover tab, likely to appear in future.

Meanwhile, tech site Verge also wishes that Messenger remained in its early form, where it was all about sending and receiving messages only. “I long for the days when Messenger was a lightweight, dependable chat app. You could convincingly argue it was a better app two years ago than it is today,” the Verge reporter writes.

For every clap and hoot, the Messenger chief concludes his post thus: “These changes are designed to make Messenger simpler for you -- to help you get to your contacts quickly, jump into your conversations where you left off, start new chats, and stay up to date.”