Tech Update: Facebook app could soon see video and voice calls added

Is the social media giant looking to integrate Messenger into Facebook again?

Facebook Messenger App

(Image credit: pixabay)

Years after removing direct messaging features from most Facebook apps, the social media giant looks to be considering their return because it tests the addition of voice and video calls to Facebook, consistent with Bloomberg.

Facebook users were previously only ready to make voice and video calls to other users through Facebook’s separate Messenger app when on mobile, but the testing will see some accounts ready to make these calls using the most app.

Facebook’s director of product management, Connor Hayes, told Bloomberg the the test is looking to streamline communication by removing the necessity to modify between most Facebook app and Facebook Messenger.

It’s so far unclear whether Facebook will bring the first feature of Messenger – text chat – back to the most app, but some integration of other Facebook properties have already begun to happen.

Instagram and WhatsApp are both owned by Facebook, and it's already enabled users to attach their Messenger and Instagram chats together since September last year. There’s also talk about connecting WhatsApp and Messenger chats also.

Speaking to Bloomberg, Hayes said: “You’re getting to start to ascertain quite a bit more of this over time”.

Analysis: are two apps better than one?

Facebook first removed messaging features from its mobile app in 2014, which meant users needed to download Messenger if they wanted to continue sending direct messages to other Facebook users from mobile.

While there’s an argument to be made for streamlining messaging back to most Facebook app, there’s also an honest case for keeping them separate. Facebook certainly isn’t what it wont to be – moving from a social media site where users shared text or status posts to at least one that now primarily sees users sharing links and viewing ads.

Some users should want to bypass the stream of stories, advertisements, and shared posts by using Messenger to speak with friends and family, while others have removed the most Facebook app from their phone altogether.

Data collected by SimilarWeb shows that while WhatsApp is that the messaging app of choice in most countries, Messenger comes in second, and is that the app of choice in countries like us , Australia, Canada, and France.

Either way, Facebook wins when it involves messaging apps, but the question is whether or not integrating Messenger features back to most app will help the business, or have users trying to find alternatives within the future 

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