On the official app for Android and iOS of Facebook Messenger, a new tab dedicated to calls is coming: Meta announced it in the past few hours. As you can see from the images just below, it will be reachable via the bottom navigation bar. It will be the second icon from the left, after the one dedicated to chat. According to the company, this makes sense from several points of view:
- streamlines and simplifies the call initiation procedure. So far it has been necessary to go to the chat of the person with whom you want to start the audio / video call and press the relative buttons at the top right. Here instead is a list of contacts and immediately next to it the buttons to start the call – quick and immediate. This interface bears a much more marked resemblance to WhatsApp, a messaging client also owned by Meta.
- constantly and effectively reminds the user that the call, audio only or audio + video, is an option on the platform in addition to the traditional text chat.
Facebook notes that the use of calls, of both types, is growing sharply: by as much as 40% compared to the beginning of 2020. That means more or less 300 million calls a day.
At present, the methods of distribution of the update are not perfectly clear. Both on the App Store and on the Play Store it was updated several days ago – May 31 and May 24, respectively – and none of the changelogs mentions the new tab. We therefore think that this is a server-side update, which in any case seems to have not arrived here yet, at least from a quick check in the editorial office. If you have positive feedback please let us know in the comments! In the meantime, we leave you the download links, just for completeness.
- Messenger | Android | Google Play Store, Free
- Messenger | iOS | Apple App Store, Free
