Facebook Is Going to Force You to Download the Messenger App if You Want to Chat on Mobile

Facebook is going to force users to download its Messenger app if they want to message friends.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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One does not simply message friends from the Facebook app. Not anymore, that is.

Even if the company just bought WhatsApp, Facebook is not giving up on the Messenger app, its standalone app for chatting with Facebook friends. In order to boost downloads of Messenger, Facebook is eliminating the messaging feature from its Android and iOS app, forcing users to download Messenger if they want to chat with friends. Facebook said they will begin sending out notifications of the elimination of its feature, but the company hasn't set an exact day of when the service within the main app will end. So, in order to get the full "Facebook experience," you'll now have two have apps on your smartphone. Though Facebook will say otherwise, this is a huge annoyance, especially for someone like me who likes to keep things clutter-free, and who doesn't regularly message from Facebook, but would like to know when a message comes.

[via TechCrunch]

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