The Facebook app will once again offer calls for all its users, thanks to Messenger and the use of its technology, as it did at the beginning.
In its day, the Facebook app was much more complete, since Messenger was not an independent app, but was completely integrated into Facebook. But in 2014, with the first indications that the company could be investigated for anti-competitive practices, Facebook decided to launch the Messenger app separately. That means that, if we are on Facebook and want to talk to a contact, we have no choice but to download a second app .
Now that may change again. According to Bloomberg , starting next Monday, Facebook will begin testing a new call and video call function within its own app , without the need to use Messenger; To do this, it will integrate the same technology as its ‘sister’ app.
The tests will be global, and only a small portion of users will be able to participate; In theory, we will know if we are part of the testing program if we find the new option. Interestingly, the only Messenger feature to be adopted will be calls and video calls; We will not be able to chat or send messages , and for that we will have to continue using Messenger.
In other words, Messenger returns to the nest, but its most basic functions remain exclusive to the app. At the moment, everything indicates that Facebook wants to offer users the alternative of talking to their friends on the social network, nothing more. For users, it will be a way to avoid the jump between one app and another, and initiating calls should be much more direct and simple.
But for the future, this may be the beginning of the end for Messenger . According to Bloomberg, Facebook is beginning to see Messenger as a service, and not as an app; that means that it can be integrated into other apps and lose its independence. This explains, for example, the integration of Instagram with Messenger to send messages to our contacts; The idea is that Messenger becomes the only option to communicate, regardless of the Facebook app we use. It remains to be seen how this will affect WhatsApp.
