Facebook Messenger Gains New Slack-Style Shortcuts Command System - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Facebook Messenger Gains New Slack-Style Shortcuts Command System

Meta (aka Facebook) today announced the introduction of Messenger "shortcuts," a new Slack-style command system that allows users to speed up communication and get messages to their intended recipients.
Everyone Shortcut

Building on the @username tagging method to direct a message to a specific person in a chat, the new system introduces @everyone for grabbing everyone's attention in a group chat, and /silent to send a message to members of a chat without them being immediately notified about it during their off hours.
Silent Shortcut

Messenger is also gaining additional shortcuts over the next few weeks that aim to be both practical and fun, such as /Pay to send and receive money within one-on-one Messenger chats (U.S only) and /gif to easily find and send GIFs. Users need only type /gif and then their chosen topic to see GIF options appear.
Pay Shortcut

Lastly, Messenger on iOS is soon to support /shrug and /tableflip to more easily convey the old-school text-based emoticons ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻. ‌Meta‌ says these are just the first of many more shortcuts coming to Messenger later this year.

Popular Stories

Waze logo

5 New Waze Features Rolling Out Now: Here Are All the Details

Monday July 13, 2026 3:42 am PDT by
Google today announced that Waze is getting a handful of new features, including some Gemini-powered personalization enhancements for Conversational Reporting. Conversational Reporting already uses Gemini when users report traffic incidents like slowdowns, but now you can use it to suggest map updates like road closures or outdated addresses. Saying something like "The road is closed here"...
apple silicon 1 feature

Apple Silicon is Taking an Unexpected Turn

Friday July 10, 2026 7:24 am PDT by
Ever since the Mac switched from Intel processors to Apple silicon starting in 2020, each generation of M-series chips has included higher-end Pro and Max variants. If a recent report proves to be accurate, though, that streak will be coming to an end. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple will be releasing a regular M6 chip, but it has no plans to offer higher-end M6 Pro and M6 Max...
Mac Pro Feature Teal

Apple's M7 Ultra Chip Designed to Match a 2019 Mac Pro Feat

Sunday July 12, 2026 8:53 am PDT by
Apple's M7 Ultra chip coming in 2028 is designed to support up to 1.5TB of unified memory, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. However, whether such a configuration is offered may depend on the state of the ongoing memory chip shortage. In 2019, Apple released an Intel-based Mac Pro with up to 1.5TB RAM....

Top Rated Comments

randolorian Avatar
56 months ago
Friends don't let friends use Facebook Messenger.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
larrylaffer Avatar
56 months ago
$30 per person for pizza? Where are these people eating??
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
56 months ago
Ah - all these kids that don't know that all of this originated in IRC 25 years ago. Slack is literally just IRC that is tied to a paid service...
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TwoBytes Avatar
56 months ago
WhatsApp feels so far behind Messenger.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Frantisekj Avatar
56 months ago
It could have holographic gold fountain and still no go for any fakebook s... on my phone..
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
56 months ago

Everyone is now getting trained to be a software developer
Yes, the Linuxheads who think that everyone should do everything using the command line.

Unfortunately, Apple is not immune to this phenomenon:

https://eclecticlight.co/2016/09/29/welcome-to-macos-sierras-new-console-its-buried-in-terminal/

https://www.macrumors.com/2020/06/23/network-utility-deprecated-macos-big-sur/
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)