Messenger

Softonic review

A free chat app for all your contacts

Facebook Messenger is a free application you can use to chat with your friends and family. It has a ton of built-in features that make communication fun and engaging. From images, gifs, video messages, voice notes, and stickers, you can send almost anything. It automatically syncs with your Facebook contacts, so there’s no need to input phone numbers or IDs manually.

A free messenger for every device

Messenger runs on a wide variety of hardware and operating systems. You can use it on Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, and most web browsers. Its interface stays the same no matter what device you’re using.

Aside from basic chatting, there are also other ways to interact with friends and family. You can hold audio and video calls, share links and documents, and form group chats to more easily manage your contacts.

There are many ways to download and install this app. You can head over to the app store or just download the Messenger APK and follow the on-screen instructions.

Simple and efficient

This app stands out because of its ease-of-use. It automatically syncs all of your Facebook messages across multiple devices. This is consistent whether you’re at home or on the go.

Installing it and getting started is a breeze. Once you boot it up, you search for who you’d like to chat with and send off a message. This app also tracks the times that you send messages and when your contact reads them.

There’s little delay when you chat with your friends. When you hit send, it delivers messages almost instantly.

Customize your experience

You can modify the interface to your liking. With Messenger, you can alter the background and chat bubble colors. There’s also an option to set custom notifications for each contact, fantastic for separating work and social ringtones. For people you’d rather ignore, the mute function is spot-on.

There’s also a dark mode that swaps the white and blue theme for a dark grey and black overlay. This is easy on the eyes and uses less battery on mobile phones. Sadly, OLED displays can’t take complete advantage of this feature as it’s not entirely pitch black.

If you own an older phone and still want to use this app, there’s an alternative. You can download Messenger Lite. It uses much less memory and still maintains most of the features that come with the original.

However, there are differences in the interface and some usability. Messenger Lite doesn’t pre-load images, so you’ll need to wait for the high-quality versions to download. However, its gif and sticker search functions are much more streamlined.

Sharing files

This app is especially useful because of its capacity to share documents. You can send images, videos, spreadsheets, and more. The file types include .pdf, .jpg, .png, .doc, .mp3, and .mp4.

Other messaging apps, like iMessage, limit what you can send. Because this Facebook alternative can work through a data connection, you can send as many files as you need.

Stories, filters, and games

Messenger goes above and beyond communication. Just like Instagram, it has a mode where you can share live stories with your contacts. You can also pick an image or video from your gallery to put on display for all to see. These last 24 hours before disappearing.

This app also has a wide variety of filters you can use. These include the basic shaders and color swaps, as well as the face features made famous by Snapchat. There are a few that work as defaults while others swap out week by week.

If you’re bored or run into a wall while chatting with friends, you can challenge them to one of many games. You can pick from Tetris, Galaga, Everwing, Space Invader, and more. The most popular Facebook Messenger game is 8 ball pool. Nothing breaks the ice like a quick game while you chat.

These games will also track high scores, so you can compete with your friends, or set up a group chat and play against each other. High scores are only valid for the chat the game started in, so each group has a different leaderboard. It’s a great, engaging way to keep people connected.

A lack of security

While this app is fantastic, it lacks certain features to keep you safe. Alternatives, like Telegram or WhatsApp, do their best to keep your logs hidden from the world. Messenger takes the opposite approach, where there’s no encryption or option for secret conversations.

Security is usually an essential part of most apps that work online. However, because the only information at risk is what you send in chat messages, the importance of this info is based on what you write. If you’re going to use this application, remember that your logs aren’t private and chat accordingly. Otherwise your Messenger login information is safe.

The go-to app for your chatting needs

Messenger is a great choice for anyone that wants a simple and easy to use messaging system. While its security is questionable, it has too much on offer to pass up. Connection quality is consistent and remains stable for video calls and file downloads. Its extra bells and whistles make it more than useful; it’s simply fun to use.

In the latest update, the developers are rolling out Facebook Pay. You can use this to make payments while you’re out and about or shopping online. There’s now a 24-hour limit for businesses to respond to customer inquiries. You can also remove messages for everyone in group chats, and share your screen in video calls.

Messenger Rooms is a new FB Messenger feature that will allow you to create a room so that anyone invited will be able to join a video call. Up to 50 people will be able to attend with no time limit. Facebook has created this feature to compete with other apps such as Zoom, Skype, or Microsoft teams, so why don’t you give it a try?