Facebook today announced updates coming to Facebook Messenger as the app and service celebrates its tenth birthday. The new features include a new game, tighter integration with Facebook Pay, message effects, and more.
For Messenger users in the United States, Messenger now allows you to receive cash gifts directly within the app. This is being enabled thanks to Facebook Pay, and when cash is received, it comes wrapped in a gift with virtual balloons.
In the US, we're introducing a new way to receive cash gifts directly through Messenger. When a friend sends you a cash gift for your birthday, you'll be notified on Messenger and Facebook with their gift message wrapped and accompanied by virtual balloons. Once you confirm your Facebook Pay details, the cash gift will be instantly deposited into your bank account. To send a birthday cash gift, go to the Facebook mobile app and tap the button that appears alongside your friend's birthday posts in your Facebook News Feed or their profile.
Within the app, Messenger users will now be able to conduct polls within group chats, allowing groups to easily vote on specific topics and play "Most Likely to."
In more celebratory features, Messenger is releasing a new "Messenger is 10!" sticker pack to users, offering fun effects such as purple balloons or candles. Announced previously, users can also utilize "Soundmoji" and message effects to spruce up their chats.
Smaller features include an updated way to share contacts with other friends and family, and a sneak peek at "Word Effects." According to Messenger, Word Effects will be rolling out soon and will let users add specific emoji effects to specific words.
As someone who is smack in the middle of my 50’s who has seen my peers fully invested in this crap, I am really curious if anyone under 50 really wants all this garbage in their conversations? Is anyone under 50 even still on Facebook?
I remember when I was 30-something and drowning in all those forwarded jokes from every relative and friend over 50 when all I really wanted to know was how they were doing. And Lord help me if I dared to ask (nicely) to be removed from the mailing list for those things. My husband’s aunt didn’t speak to me for ages and one older friend totally dropped me.
I promised myself when it was my turn to be the grumpy old aunt I’d leave everyone the hell alone with the cutesy crap and just stick to business. Yes, I was always a grumpy mom.
Facebook is re-adding voice and video calling features to its main Facebook app after moving the features to Messenger back in 2014, reports Bloomberg.
Users in some countries including the United States are now able to make voice or video calls directly from the Facebook app. As of now, Facebook is testing the feature, which is meant to cut down on the number of times that Facebook users...
Thursday June 10, 2021 11:42 pm PDT by Tim Hardwick
Facebook has announced new features for its Messenger app, including a quick reply bar, QR codes, and new chat themes.
The new quick reply bar can be found in the Messenger media viewer, and aims to make it easier to chat about media posted by friends without needing to go back to the main chat thread.
Users can tap on a photo or video and send a response via the quick reply bar, which...
Facebook is developing a health and messaging-focused smartwatch to compete with the Apple Watch, according to recent reports.
The Information and The Verge have reported Facebook's internal plans to bring an Apple Watch-style smartwatch to market.
Facebook's smartwatch is said to work with a cellular connection without the need for a tethered smartphone. It will apparently run a version...
Thursday August 19, 2021 4:29 pm PDT by Juli Clover
The United States Federal Trade Commission today reinforced its antitrust case against Facebook by providing more detail on how the company either crushed or bought out its rivals in an attempt to get rid of competition.
The updated filing is longer than the original complaint and it offers additional evidence in favor of the FTC's argument that Facebook is a monopolist, plus it again asks...
Thursday September 9, 2021 10:25 am PDT by Juli Clover
Facebook today launched its first smart glasses, which were created in collaboration with Ray-Ban. The Ray-Ban Stories are priced starting at $299 and come in 20 style combinations.
Smart glasses might suggest augmented reality capabilities, but Facebook's Ray-Ban Stories are similar to other connected sunglasses on the market and are limited to making phone calls, snapping photos, and...
Friday August 6, 2021 12:00 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple Cash, Apple's peer-to-peer payments service that works with Apple Pay and iMessage, received a couple of small updates on Thursday. It's now possible to use Instant Transfer with both Mastercard and Visa debit cards. Previously only the latter card could be used, so the addition of Mastercard means Instant Transfer is more accessible to users who want to quickly transfer money from an ...
Wednesday September 1, 2021 4:47 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Telegram Messenger has received a major update that expands support for live video streams, allowing streams to be watched by an unlimited number of viewers.
Version 8 of the popular messaging platform uncaps the previous live stream audience limit of 1,000 viewers for groups and channels, and includes more customization options when forwarding messages, plus a shortcut to switch between...
Facebook is researching ways to analyze encrypted data, such as WhatsApp messages, without actually decrypting the information, according to a new report from The Information. The report cites that Facebook has confirmed it is building a team of artificial intelligence researchers to "study ways of analyzing encrypted data without decrypting it." While it is still early in development, the...
Facebook has been working on a new smart watch for the last several months, and The Verge today unveiled new details about the device, which will compete with the Apple Watch.
The Facebook smart watch will have a detachable display with two built-in cameras for taking pictures and videos to share on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
A camera on the front of the watch's display will be...
In July 2020, Apple introduced a new all-in-one gift card in the United States that combines its previously separate Apple Store and iTunes gift cards into one, and the combined gift card is now available in Canada and Australia as well.
The new Apple Gift Card can be applied towards "everything Apple," including purchases of Apple products and accessories, App Store apps, iTunes Store...
For the first time, Apple is allowing users to continue using iOS 14, even after the launch of iOS 15. So should you update to iOS 15 or stick with iOS 14?
Updates for Safari, FaceTime, and many other apps, Universal Control to let a single mouse or trackpad control multiple devices, new Shortcuts app, machine-learning Live Text detection and Visual Lookup, and more.
Top Rated Comments
I remember when I was 30-something and drowning in all those forwarded jokes from every relative and friend over 50 when all I really wanted to know was how they were doing. And Lord help me if I dared to ask (nicely) to be removed from the mailing list for those things. My husband’s aunt didn’t speak to me for ages and one older friend totally dropped me.
I promised myself when it was my turn to be the grumpy old aunt I’d leave everyone the hell alone with the cutesy crap and just stick to business. Yes, I was always a grumpy mom.