Categories: Mobile

Facebook launches standalone Android and iPhone messaging app

Facebook has just launched a standalone messaging app, Facebook Messenger, for Android and iOS devices. The app allows Facebook users to message friends individually or by group, send photos and share location information.

Facebook Messenger is a direct descendant of Beluga, a group messaging service that Facebook acquired in March of this year, and is the first standalone app from the social network. This app could signal the start of an emerging trend as Facebook is also rumoured to be working on a standalone photo sharing app.

With Facebook Messenger app-to-app messages are delivered via push notifications. If the receiving user does not have Facebook Messenger, the update is delivered via Facebook Chat, Facebook Messages or by good old-fashioned SMS instead.

The app imports all your existing conversations on Facebook Messages. New conversations are started by adding one or more Facebook friends or phone numbers from your list of phone contacts. The app won’t quite replace your phone’s basic SMS application just yet however, at least not until a sizable portion of the current 750 million active Facebook users download it first.

The app is currently not available in Ireland but we’re expecting it within the next few hours.

Albizu Garcia

Albizu Garcia is the Co-Founder and CEO of Gain -- a marketing technology company that automates the social media and content publishing workflow for agencies and social media managers, their clients and anyone working in teams.

View Comments

Recent Posts

Byte-sized solutions: How tech is transforming life with food allergies 

Nine-year-old Addie Lao from California lives with severe allergies to peanuts, tree nuts, sesame seeds,…

2 days ago

Credibl appoints sustainability leader Viral Thakker as Chief Business Officer to help more businesses achieve regulatory ESG compliance 

Sustainable investment in the US has faced political backlash in 2025 after the current administration's…

2 days ago

CATALYST Launches Real-Time Satellite Intelligence Service for National Defense Agencies

For many decades, satellite images have played an important role in the arena of national…

5 days ago

Digital ID is the key to unlocking digital identity for the DPI panopticon

Your biometrics are your identification, your identity is you; together they feed the interoperable digital…

5 days ago

AI enterprise Prezent wins back-to-back Inc. Power Partner Award

Inc.'s Power Partner Awards present the definitive list of B2B partners in the U.S. and…

6 days ago

Allie AI raises $5.2 million to advance autonomous intelligence in global manufacturing systems

AI continues to transform the operations of enterprises across the globe, including in manufacturing. In…

6 days ago