Facebook is taking Messenger very seriously. Recently, the company reinvented Messenger as a platform for app developers, allowing apps to work inside the app (insert Xhibit meme here). Last week, the company released a stand-alone web app for chatting on your computer. Today, the social network updated Messenger with video calling support.
Facebook already supports voice calling between Facebook Messenger users. It released an Android dialer replacement last week called Hello, which isn’t really a dialer but an app to keep you using Messenger.
Although Facebook is late to the video chat game, it has a good chance at success. The company has a huge audience and its app allows calling between iOS and Android. FaceTime is ubiquitous with iOS users but is limited to Apple’s own products. Messenger can fill the need for a cross-platform video chat app since so many users already use Facebook.
The video calling feature in Messenger is designed for speed. Users can start a video chat from a message by tapping on the video icon at the top. There’s no need to launch another app and to check if your buddy is using the same app. If you both have Messenger installed, you can start video chatting right away.
Facebook is up against strong competition for video calling from Snapchat (Android | iOS), Google Hangouts (Android | iOS), Skype (Android | iOS), and other messaging apps.
The update is being pushed out to users in Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Laos, Lithuania, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, the UK, the US and Uruguay. There’s no need to download an update; the feature will appear in the app by itself. If you don’t have the app already, you can download it below.
Download Facebook Messenger: Android | iOS
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