Once upon a time, you could send and receive SMS right from the Messenger app. However, there was little adoption of this feature that Facebook decided to phase it out and concentrate on other things.
Things such as the ability to send payments, hail Uber taxi, Photo Magic that scans your pictures using facial recognition technology and reminds you to send pictures to your Facebook friends and the Artificial Intelligence personal digital assistant. All these features are recent developments on the Messenger app. With the advent of other messaging apps like Google’s Hangout (which currently incorporates SMS function, though it might soon be phased out), Facebook has decided to revert to supporting SMS in the Messenger app.
This news first emerged on Android Police, where it is also reported other than the SMS integration. Messenger will soon also support multiple accounts simultaneous login. Facebook has also come forth to confirm that indeed Messenger will be getting the SMS integration and multiple account login feature soon.
In a statement, a spokesperson from Facebook told Engadget, “At Messenger we are always trying to create new ways for people to communicate seamlessly with everyone. Right now, we’re testing the ability for people to easily bring all their conversations – from SMS and Messenger – to one place. It’s a really simple way to get, see and respond to all your SMS messages in just one app. By choosing to access your SMS messages in Messenger, they’re right alongside all the other enhanced features that Messenger offers.”
Photo: Android Police
Android Police also posted screenshots of what appears to be the new Messenger app. As you can see from the far left screenshot above, the SMS feature is present. From the looks of things, SMS will have a different color from the rest of Messenger’s messages; purple instead of blue. The use of the SMS feature will be at the discretion of the users; you can opt to turn in on or off, depending on how it appeals to you.
“Millions of people share phones with their family and friends. Until now, there hasn’t been an easy way for people to access their individual Messenger accounts from shared devices. To address this, we’ve launched a feature on Android to enable multiple people to log in and use Messenger from a single phone.”
That is what Facebook had to say about the multiple accounts support feature soon to be launched on Messenger. This feature would make more sense for users sharing a tablet; as it is often tablets that are shared among family members. However, if you have managing multiple Facebook accounts; one for work and personal account, As far as smartphones go, I think it would be safe to say, most family members don’t share their phones.
