Facebook Messenger App for Android

by Khawaja Talha on October 16, 2011

There are quite a lot of Facebook apps on the Android market apart from the default Facebook for Android app, and Facebook Messenger is one of the most useful. Unlike Facebook for Android, this one is just a messenger app as you can tell from the name and has lots of functionality.

First off, once you log into the app ( you don’t need to if Facebook for Android is installed and logged into), you’ll get to the main messages screen. Since Facebook has merged your chatbox and the traditional “Messages” you have the same concept here. Normal FB messages and chat messages show up in a single thread and you can chat with friends regardless of wether they are messaging or using FB chat.

Once you open a thread rfrom the main screen, you have the traditional mobile Facebook chat look, messages in the middle, chatbox at the bottom. The added feature here, is the ability to share photos aswell through the bottom-left camera button. Then we have the settings button on the opposite corner.
One thing to keep In mind here. The settings on the mainscreen are universal for the whole app, whereas the settings button within each individual thread are for that thread only. You can manage alerts here (push notifications: On/ Off for 1 hour/off etc) and add more people to the conversation. The individual setting for Alerts is really cool, since you can prioritize people based on your needs.
Other than one on one chat, group chat works in a similar way aswell with nothing new here. As always you can start a completely new thread between 1 or more people aswell. Another cool feature is that you can share your location on the app and see other’s locations aswell. Should be useful if you need to meet someone close by or co-ordinate with a group of friends.

Overall the Facebook Messenger app is great, push notifications, individual alert settings, location sharing, group messaging, the app has everything covered and you should definitely grab it from the market.