Facebook Messenger has a huge update and it’s optimised for older phones

It’s almost impossible for you to private message someone via Facebook without downloading Messenger on your phone. In fact, it’s not like everyone has a choice when Facebook decides to separate Messenger from the main app. Although the intention is to provide a better messaging experience, it can be an issue for older and entry-level devices as it takes up more storage. 

To address the issue, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced what appears to be the biggest change for the instant messaging app. It’s now available on iOS and Android, and it’s one-quarter of the file size and two times faster than the previous version. 

If you wonder how is this possible, Facebook has redesigned the app with greater focus on being faster, smaller and simpler. The Messenger’s core code was reduced by 84 percent— going from over 1.7 million lines of code to only 360,000. The smaller file size also makes it more accessible and useful especially on low-storage phones and slow networks. As a result, the new app can also reduce mobile data consumption, which is crucial for users in developing markets. 

For the new update, the “Discover” tab which was available on the older version was removed because they wanted to focus on speed and simplicity instead. Discover used to serve as a home for chatbots along with easy access to brands, games, and other businesses. Chatbots, businesses and games are no longer visible but they are still accessible through the search bar.

The changes are designed to allow users to spend more time visually communicating with friends while staying focused on the content. In the “People” tab, they still retain sub-tabs for Stories and Active. The Stories sub-tab is now cleaner and you get a glimpse of your friends’ stories at one glance.

According to Facebook, businesses are still an important part of Messenger. However, without promotions via Discover, it somewhat discourages businesses from building on the Messenger platform. However, businesses can still run ads by running Stories ads on Messenger. 

What do you think of the latest version? Is it better than the old version? Let me know in the comment below. 

[ SOURCE, VIA, 2 ]