Subj : Facebook Messenger is losing a useful messaging feature soon
To   : All
From : TechnologyDaily
Date : Tue Aug 08 2023 12:45:03

Facebook Messenger is losing a useful messaging feature soon

Date:
Tue, 08 Aug 2023 11:41:28 +0000

Description:
Facebook Messenger is losing SMS message support on September 28, 2023.

FULL STORY
======================================================================

Meta is removing SMS messaging from Facebook Messenger, so if its the default 
app on your Android phone youll want to change it to a new preferred option 
soon 

The feature will be switched off on September 28 Meta, which means youll no 
longer be able to use Messenger for SMS messages. You will still be able to 
use the app for its usual non-SMS messages though, so the app wont be 
completely useless come the deadline. 

The SMS feature was added in 2016, with Meta (then Facebook) explaining that 
it hoped the move would make Messenger a one-stop shop for your messaging 
needs. Rather than using several different apps, you could find your chats 
that ran on Messengers internet-powered messaging service as well as your 
communications over traditional SMS. 

This vision has unfortunately come to an unceremonious end (at least for now) 
with Metas recent Help Center announcement letting users know that SMS 
messaging is leaving the app. 

If you forget to change your phones default SMS app before September 28 you 
dont need to worry about any texts getting lost  when the Messenger service 
shuts down your phone should automatically change your default SMS option to 
your phones default texting app (most likely the app it came preinstalled 
with). The Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra, one of the best Android phones (Image 
credit: Future | Alex Walker-Todd) Why has Meta removed SMS messaging? 

Meta hasnt yet explained why it has decided to remove SMS messaging from 
Messenger, but we have two theories. 

The first is that this is yet another cost-saving measure for the company. 
Over the past couple of years, Meta has announced a slew of cutbacks which 
have included laying off staff and toning down some of its services , and 
removing SMS messaging from Messenger could be the latest instance of this. 

This writer didnt even know you could use Messenger for SMS before today, and 
we expect thats true for a lot of you too. Maintaining the service wont be 
free, and if its not overly popular (or even known about), then Meta may feel 
its not getting a good return on its investment into supporting SMS. 

The second option is that Meta is pulling the service down so that it can 
revamp it  a tactic it has used in the past. SMS messaging on Messenger was 
first added in 2012, before being removed in 2013. The feature was relaunched 
in 2016 along with some upgrades, and Meta may be looking to do something 
similar following this latest shutdown. 

Nothing has been announced yet on this front however, so well have to wait 
and see what Meta says about the shutdown before we know exactly what it has 
planned  if it has anything up its sleeve at all. 

Looking for a new messaging app? Check out our picks for the best encrypted 
messaging app for Android of 2023



======================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.techradar.com/computing/facebook/facebook-messenger-is-losing-a-us
eful-messaging-feature-soon


--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 (Linux/64)
 * Origin: tqwNet Technology News (1337:1/100)

.