AppleInsider Staff
Amid the constantly evolving landscape that is mobile messaging, Facebook on Thursday added two new features — video messaging and bigger "thumbs ups" — to its Messenger iOS app to help it stand apart from the crowd.
The biggest addition to Facebook Messenger version 6.0 is an option to film and send in-line video messages to friends with a "tap-and-hold" gesture.
Prior to today's update, Messenger limited users to sending in-app pictures and pre-recorded videos stored in the iOS Camera Roll, but now tapping and holding on the camera icon allows for on-the-fly recording. Videos are restricted to 15 seconds, which is also the limit for Instagram videos.
In practice, the feature defaults to the front-facing camera for a 15-second selfie, adding yet another layer to users' messaging options.
Apple's forthcoming iOS 8 mobile operating system will feature a similar capability that supports recording of both video and audio clips in the first-party Messages app. Media can be recorded and sent to friends directly from the message screen without having to leave the app via a tap-and-hold UI and a new microphone icon.
The second feature packed into Messenger is "Big Likes," which basically plops in a huge "thumbs up" when you "really, really like something." More of a tweak than a new addition, Big Likes offers a more granular way for users to express their feelings.
Facebook Messenger is available as a free 35.4MB download from the App Store.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
7 Comments
The video is welcomed. The big like thing is just plain ole lame to me. Lol. Whenever I send likes through chat it's always by mistake.
> help it stand apart from the crowd <
What crowd?
Big Like? Seriously? Give us something useful like a dislike button - or a scale like you get on surveys ranging from "strongly like" to "strongly dislike" - or an anonymous way to say "walk into the next room and argue with your wife in person and in private instead of airing your dirty laundry publicly for all your friends to see", or "I don't care what you had for dinner - stop posting pictures of your food"!
Other blogs were reporting on the controversy of this app (on android) listening in on your background audio, to determine what programs you're watching on TV or what music you're listening to.
I dumped facebook the second they stopped me being able to use the messenger function within the main app. I was planning to leave anyway and that was the last little push that I needed.