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Best video chat services in 2023
Video chat services make it very easy to interact and be in touch with your peers. These services do it the best and are worth considering in 2023.
Video chat apps have become quite important in our daily lives. From having meaningful conversations with our loved ones and sharing ideas with colleagues to having virtual parties and movie dates, these apps have evolved to offer many different features that help enhance the communication experience. However, since there are many different options to choose from, choosing the ideal video chat app for your smartphone or laptop can be a bit overwhelming. To make things easy for you, we've compiled a list of the top video chat apps around, ensuring to highlight the ideal ones for business and personal communication.
How to delete or deactivate your Facebook account
Deleting or deactivating your Facebook account is fairly simple as long as you know where to find the options.
Facebook, just like many other social media platforms, has seen some significant changes over the last few years. I would even go as far as to say that using Facebook hasn't really been the same — at least for me — since the massive data breach at Facebook, exposing the personal details of over 500 million users. I also don't find Facebook particularly useful or interesting anymore, and it's mostly just a bubble of distractions and ads for things that I may have discussed with a friend on WhatsApp or Instagram.
Facebook is killing off Messenger for Apple Watch
The move is being made quietly, with no official public announcement.
Facebook's Messenger app will no longer be available for the Apple Watch, as the company sent out a notification to some users, alerting them of the change that will occur at the end of the month. While Facebook will be pulling the app from the Apple Watch, users will still have the ability to interact with incoming notifications, albeit it'll just be a more limited experience going forward.
Best messaging apps in 2023
There are loads of messaging apps for our phones these days. But not all are created equal. So, we've gathered up the best for you in one place.
Smartphones have become a lot more capable over the years and so have the messaging apps and services that we use on a daily basis to connect with our friends and family. All the advancements in smartphone technology have given us some powerful communication tools, and you are no longer limited to SMS messages or voice calls. There are some incredibly powerful messaging apps out there that let you send everything from simple texts to media files or even play games in some cases.
Facebook tests bringing Messenger back in-app, alongside better discovery
Imagine opening Facebook and having everything you need right there.
Meta may be returning a fabled classic to its social media that users have had to juggle for years now.
Messenger's encrypted experience gains support for emojis, chat themes, and more
A new update to Meta's Messenger brings chat themes, emojis, reactions, and more to the end-to-end encrypted experience.
There are a lot of great messaging apps, and one of the most popular is Messenger. The app was initially a component of Facebook but was then spun off as its own stand-alone app, offering users the ability to create an account without having a Facebook page. Although it might not be the most robust messaging app available, it offers a wide variety of features like chat, support for SMS, voice and video calling, and more. Perhaps one of its most important updates was introducing E2EE (end-to-end encryption) to the platform, giving users a more secure way to connect.
Meta's Accounts Center gives users a new settings hub for Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger
Today, Meta announced a new update that will give users access to one hub to control some settings for Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram.
Today, Meta announced a new and easy way to access some of the settings for its most popular apps like Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram. Going forward, those that use these apps will be able to access some settings for all apps from one location called the Meta Accounts Center. The Meta Accounts Center can be found in each app, but will give users control of settings in Meta's other apps as well.
Facebook will roll out a new way to connect with Community Chats
Facebook will roll out a feature called Community Chats, that will allow instant communication between Messenger and Facebook Groups.
Facebook will begin testing its Community Chats feature in Messenger, allowing users to create a Facebook Group and then have conversations using chat, video, and audio channels. Furthermore, there will be the added convenience of being able to invite people to the community through the Messenger app.
Facebook is testing default end-to-end encryption in Messenger
Facebook is finally getting serious about security and privacy on Messenger, enabling end-to-end encrypted chats by default.
Facebook has offered end-to-end encrypted chats for Messenger since 2016. But the service had to be enabled for each individual chat session, requiring users to be informed and also making it a bit of a pain to keep conversations secure. While it wasn't ready to have encryption on by default late last year, things have now changed. Over the coming weeks, Facebook will test having end-to-end encrypted chats on by default. The test will roll out to selected users, who should notice that their chats are end-to-end encrypted without the need to take any kind of action.
Messenger Pro is an Xposed Module that adds loads of features to Facebook Messenger
Messenger Pro by XDA Member Mino260806 is an Xposed Module that extends and adds features to the official Facebook Messenger app. Read on!
Meta's Messenger is one of the most popular instant messaging apps in the world, riding on the sheer popularity of Facebook. The Messenger app does a lot of things right for it to gain this popularity, but it also has a few limitations that are intentionally placed. For example, the inability to use text formatting on the mobile client seems pretty odd. If you are looking to fix some of Messenger’s quirks and add a lot of features to the Android app, try out the Messenger Pro Xposed Module.
EU could force WhatsApp, Messenger, iMessage and others to offer interoperability
EU's proposed Digital Markets Act could force large messaging platforms like WhatsApp, iMessage, and Messenger to offer interoperability.
The EU has agreed upon new laws to limit the market power of big tech. Its new Digital Markets Act (DMA) aims to blacklist anti-competitive practices and force popular messaging services like WhatsApp, Messenger, iMessage, and others to open up and interoperate with smaller messaging platforms.
Instagram Stories and DMs now support Meta's 3D avatars
Instagram users in the US, Canada, and Mexico can now share their 3D Avatars via Instagram Stories and DMs. Read on to learn more.
In a bid to compete with Snap's Bitmoji feature, Facebook (now Meta) launched Avatars all the way back in 2019. At first, the feature was only available in Australia, but Facebook released it in other markets over the course of a year. As its name suggests, the feature lets you create a virtual avatar of yourself that you can use in Messenger or on the Facebook feed. Almost three years after debuting the feature, Meta is now bringing it to Instagram Stories and DMs.
Messenger now supports E2E encrypted group chats and calls
Meta is rolling out a major update for Messenger with support for end-to-end encrypted group chats, calls, and more!
Meta (formerly Facebook) is rolling out a major update for Messenger, which brings support for end-to-end (E2E) encrypted group chats and calls. The feature expands upon Messenger's existing E2E encrypted messaging feature and it now lets you connect with multiple people in a group chat and make calls in a private and secure way. Along with E2E encrypted group chats and calls, the latest update for Messenger brings screenshot notifications support for disappearing messages (previously available in Vanish mode), GIF, sticker and reactions support in E2E encrypted messaging, and more.
Meta isn't ready to E2E encrypt your Facebook and Instagram messages by default just yet
Meta has delayed its plans to end-to-end encrypt Facebook and Instagram messages by default till 2023, a year after its initial promise.
Meta -- the company behind Facebook and Instagram -- has shared an update regarding its end-to-end (E2E) encryption plans. The company had promised that it would E2E encrypt Facebook and Instagram messages by default during 2022. Now it has pushed this deadline till "sometime in 2023" -- a year later. Meta already E2E encrypts WhatsApp messages by default, but its other services aren't ready to follow suit just yet.
[Update: Back online] It's not just you, Facebook Messenger is down for many users globally
If you're having trouble loading Facebook Messenger, you're not alone. Users globally are reporting that they can't send messages.
Following Facebook's massive outage last month, the company's messaging service is now down for many users globally. Currently, users across the world in the U.S., Europe, and Asia are reporting that both the Messenger website and the official apps are failing to send messages. Visting the website in your browser will display an error message, too.
Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp are finally back online after hours-long outage
Facebook's services including Facebook, Messenger, Workplace, Whatsapp and Instagram were all facing service interruptions worldwide today.
Facebook services across America, Europe, and Asia are being disrupted this morning, causing users of Facebook itself, Facebook Messenger, and its sister services Instagram and WhatsApp to throw up error messages when attempting to access any of the sites and services on any OS. The issue could be related to DNS, as none of the domains are returning an IP. The outage is also affecting services that offer a Facebook login, such as Pokemon Go.
Facebook Messenger tests ditching Android 11's bubbles for chat heads
Facebook Messenger is sseemingly ditching Android 11's Bubbles API, according to multiple reports. It may also be an A/B test.
Google introduced the new Bubbles API with the second Android 10 beta, and the API was initially offered as an opt-in feature for developers, with Google urging them to test the API in their apps so that the supported apps were ready when the feature finally rolled out as a part of Android 11 Developer Preview 1. Facebook Messenger was one of the first apps to officially support the Bubbles API, but it appears that the company may be phasing out support for it. Facebook Messenger is one of the few apps that makes use of the Bubbles API outside of first-party Google apps like Google Messages.
Facebook Messenger now lets you turn on end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls
Facebook Messenger is now letting you turn on end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls, and teased some additional features too.
End-to-end encryption means that when a piece of data leaves your phone, at no point is it decrypted until it reaches its destination. That means if you send a message to a friend via an end-to-end encrypted service, the server that handles your message can't even see what you've written. Facebook Messenger first rolled it out by switching to "secret conversation" mode, though that also disables a lot of features from working. Facebook Messenger will now let you turn on end-to-end encryption for voice and video calls.
Facebook Messenger is getting a new quick reply bar and new chat themes
Facebook is adding a trio of new features to its Messenger service, including a new quick reply bar, some new themes and more.
Facebook has announced a bunch of new features for Messenger, the company's instant messaging app. The new features include a quick reply bar, three new chat themes and QR codes and payment links.
Facebook Messenger and Instagram chats won't be encrypted by default until at least 2022
Facebook has shared an update about when it'll activate end-to-end encryption for chats in its Messenger and Instagram apps.
Facebook has received plenty of criticism over the past few years, partially because the company has a near-monopoly on messaging and social networks in some countries, and also due to Facebook's abhorrent track record with user privacy and data. The company has been slow-moving to improve its public perception, and one element of that — encrypting messages between users without having to change any settings — won't be ready anytime soon.