It’s quite a surprise! Facebook should soon reintegrate Messenger messaging into its mobile application. No need to install two different applications to send messages on the social network!
Change of course for Meta! Nine years after separating its Facebook mobile application from its instant messaging service, thus requiring the download of a second Messenger application to communicate on the social network, the company is reversing its decision. In fact, she announces on his blog the gradual return of Messenger to the Facebook mobile application, allowing you to continue your discussions directly there. “We are testing the ability for users to access their Messenger inbox from within the Facebook app and will expand these tests soon”explains Tom Alison, the head of the Facebook division. “Ultimately, we want it to be easy and convenient for people to connect and share, whether in the Messenger app or directly in Facebook”..
This meeting will allow users to no longer have to download two applications if they want to follow the adventures of their friends while chatting with them. Tom Alison says this will allow users to “to make it easier for Messenger to share discoveries made on Facebook when, where and how it’s convenient for them, without having to switch to another application”. This operation already exists with the competition, in particular TikTok, which integrates instant messaging into its mobile application and is extremely popular with young people. Combining the two Meta applications would in any case make room in the storage of your smartphone and save a little more battery. For the moment, only a small part of users have access to their conversations directly in the Facebook application, but this should expand soon. But that’s not the only improvement Meta is planning for 2023.
Messenger 2023: automatic end-to-end encryption
We don’t necessarily think about it at the time, but we reveal a lot of information about ourselves when we chat via instant messaging, information that can be collected and used for malicious purposes by a third party. That’s why data encryption, which makes conversations unreadable as they pass between servers – no one, including the company in charge of the service, can see or hear what is sent or said, if is not the interlocutors –, is so important. It is thanks to him that the security and confidentiality of messages and calls of users are ensured, from the minute they leave the device until they reach that of the recipient. The problem is that this does not apply to all applications.
Initially, in Messenger, data encryption, which has been available since 2016, is not done automatically, it must be activated manually in the application for each conversation – you have to go to it, press the icon “Information” then on “Access the secret conversation”. Suffice to say that few people use it, especially since the encrypted mode does not have many functions yet present in unencrypted mode – there is enough to put off more than one. A problem that Meta is trying to solve this year little by little by adding new options in the hope of making the mode more user-friendly and less restrictive. Thus, the firm of Mark Zunkerberg announced at the end of January on his blog that the encrypted version of Messenger now has more functions, which should encourage more people to use it.
Messenger 2023: towards user-friendly encryption by default
An end-to-end encrypted chat is protected by a unique key that is shared among all participating devices. Thus, the device locks the message being sent so that only a device possessing one of the conversation keys can unlock this message. Meta’s long-term goal is to make all its instant messengers encrypted by default – which is already the case for WhatsApp – so that users don’t have to do anything to protect their chats. A long-standing project that is progressing slowly, but which the firm promises to achieve in 2023.
The new version of Messenger allows changing the messaging themes on encrypted chats so that users are no longer forced to have a default background on secure conversations. It also offers custom emojis and allows you to set a profile picture for group chats. The user can also share a link, view its thumbnail and preview it. In addition, active/inactive statuses become visible. Finally, on the Android application, the user can easily and quickly access his encrypted discussions thanks to chat bubbles. In short, so many essential functions that were previously only present in the “normal” mode of Messenger.
Meta expands early this year testing for use of default end-to-end data encryption system. “Over the next few months, more and more people will continue to have some of their chats gradually upgraded with an extra layer of protection provided by end-to-end encryption,” explained the company. These are chosen randomly, and the firm informs them when the time comes. However, some governments are strongly opposed to this project. This is particularly the case of the United States, which wishes to be able to investigate gangs, terrorists or even criminals in complete freedom.