In addition to text, you can also add locations, photos, fifteen seconds of movie, fifteen seconds of audio, or a variably sized Facebook thumbs-up to any Messenger thread. These all worked sleekly for me in testing.

Group talks have all the features of a normal Messenger thread, except with more people. I indeed like that Facebook lets you lightly liquidate yourself from a group or mute it if it becomes too annoying. It’s a bit anarchic, however, since the group’s creator has no special privileges within the group. Anyone can also eliminate any other member, including the group’s creator. Still, if you’re tired of being trapped in endless group talks, Facebook Messenger gives you lots of plasticity.

Like Google Hangouts , Facebook Messenger eschews the traditional instant messaging model and assumes that all users are available all the time. In that sense, it’s indeed more like texting. However you can toggle your availability off from the People section, it’s a far sob from the status messages of old-style instant messaging. You can’t use Messenger to send SMS messages, as you can with Hangouts and Google’s latest messaging app, Google Allo .

Facebook Messenger might be the only place where I can send my friends a little pic of Jason Statham (as seen in The Expendables Trio) surrounded by hearts, but Telegram is a very strong contender in the world of messaging stickers. That app uses a decentralized model under which anyone can create and share stickers. It makes finding stickers firmer, but someone created an entire sticker set using pictures from Murder, She Wrote. That’s worth a lot to me.

The freshly revamped Apple Messages app in iOS ten also features stickers, and these are far more interactive than any other app I’ve seen. With Messages, you can physically place stickers on or near messages. Incredible. But recall that Messages only lets you communicate with iOS device users, so your Android friends (and Windows Phone friends, if you have any) won’t get the utter practice.

Facebook Messenger also lets you make voice-over-IP calls to other Messenger users. As with most VoIP services, such as the secure messaging app Signal , the call takes longer to connect than a standard cell call. Once connected, the call quality with Facebook is excellent, with greater range in the audio than that of normal cellular calls. I’m pleasurably astonished at the low latency of my Messenger calls, but I imagine that your mileage may vary depending on your network connection. Another good feature: Facebook lets you leave a voicemail if your recipient is unavailable.

Facebook Messenger also lets you make movie calls, bringing it up to speed with Google Hangouts, Skype , and even Snapchat. My movie call connected swiftly and was low-latency enough for us to talk lightly. I was a bit disappointed at the movie quality, albeit I have yet to see another mobile talk app (besides FaceTime) that performs better. Interestingly, Facebook Messenger indicated that I had a "feeble signal" despite being connected to a FiOS Wi-Fi router.

Unluckily, as with Apple Messages, movie calls in Facebook Messenger are limited to just two participants. Hangouts and Skype both let you videoconference up to ten other people at the same time. Why you would want to do such a thing is, of course, your own business. Snapchat’s person-to-person movie calls are much smarter, letting you response with text, or voice only, for when you want to react but can’t use movie. Snapchat has indeed upped its game in the messaging department, but it’s still not a full-fledged messaging app.

Venmo have become popular avenues for sharing cash. Fresh integrations let you access services like Disney Gif and even Uber from within Messenger. Facebook is also making it lighter to connect applications to Messenger, and Dropbox already plays nice with the service.

If it’s not clear already, Facebook Messenger far and beyond exceeds the capabilities of any messenger I’ve yet reviewed. And you’re slightly halfway through this review. While that’s epic, it’s also difficult to appreciate in Messenger since many implements are hidden. In fact, I’ve come to feel that Messenger is verging on the overstuffed. Perhaps a revamp is in order to place the most commonly used features at the forefront and make other features optional.

The talk bots are usually special-purpose, designed to reaction questions or put you in touch with information in a more conversational way. I spent a little while talking with TIFFbot, a chatbot meant to help attendees of the Toronto film festival. TIFFbot asked me questions and my answers prompted film recommendations. Google recently introduced the Google Assistant, very first in the messaging app Google Allo and then deeply integrated into its Pixel phones . The Assistant doesn’t need to be sought out and instead sees what you type and offers itself when it thinks it can be useful. It’s a much better way to interact with chatbots.

That said, neither are as useful as Apple Messages. In that app, you can interact directly with third-party services. For example, I sought out and purchased tickets through Fandango, all while within a conversation with my friend. Messenger’s third-party app integrations are limited mostly to GIFs and such, tho’ it has a dedicated button for summoning rails via Uber and Lyft. That’s nice, but it’s not almost as powerful as iOS ten messages.

Facebook recently introduced a Secret Conversations mode for Messenger. When activated, your messages are protected by end-to-end encryption . That means that only your default device (which you define when you very first activate this feature) can send and receive messages. This is less convenient than having all your messages available on every device, as normal Facebook messages are, but it means that no one, not even Facebook, can read or access your Secret Conversations.

The practice is a bit stripped-down, but you can still send photos and stickers in Secret mode. You can set a self-destruct timer, as you do with Wickr, to ensure that messages don’t persist.

Facebook has confirmed that regular messages sent through Facebook Messenger are encrypted in transit to avoid interception, but Facebook manages the encryption keys. That means that Facebook, or law enforcement with a court order, could conceivably read those messages. Secret Conversation messages, on the other forearm, are encrypted using the open-source Signal protocol, and cannot be read by anyone other than you and the message’s recipient. The Signal technology is also being used to secure the Signal app, WhatsApp messages, and Incognito messages for Google Allo.

It’s good that Facebook determined to use Signal. I’m especially blessed because the managers of the Signal protocol, Open Whisper Systems, publicly confirm that Facebook’s implementation of the protocol is sound. You can’t ask for more reassurance than that.

Of course, only Secret Conversation messages are encrypted in this way. And I am disappointed that beginning a Secret Conversation is far from effortless. If security is a concern for you, but you still want the convenience suggested by Facebook Messenger, stick to Messages. Messages sent inbetween iPhone users are encrypted end-to-end with Apple’s proprietary protocol, and even the FBI complains about not being able to read them. The Signal app also offers encrypted messaging, and throws in encrypted voice calls to boot. Telegram not only offers encrypted talks, but also includes many of the joy features found in Facebook Messenger.

If you’re looking to stay in touch with your friends and you don’t have their phone numbers, or simply don’t feel like texting, you cannot do better than Facebook Messenger. It’s an effortless Editors’ Choice. If security and privacy are your primary concerns, stick with Apple Messages or attempt Editors’ Choice winner Signal.

Facebook Messenger (for iPhone) Review & Rating

Facebook Messenger (for iPhone)

Clean, ordinary design. Over a billion users. Secure Secret Conversations mode. Powerful group talking features. Free VoIP and live movie calling. Web integration. Excellent stickers, including adorable cartoon cat Pusheen. Third-party app integration.

Many devices hidden or hard to find. No away messages or status indicators.

Facebook Messenger is an excellent mobile talk client that connects you to the billion-plus Facebook users from your iPhone. It’s a finish package, suggesting text, voice, movie, payments, and now secure, secret messaging.

Albeit tearing off Snapchat seems to be the hot fresh thing in social networking, the dominance of Facebook proceeds. True, there are rumblings of junior users deserting the world’s largest social network, but for now it remains the fattest player in the field. And Facebook isn’t sitting still either, as it resumes to roll out a stable stream of brainy features, particularly in the excellent Facebook Messenger. This instant messaging service is one of the best iPhone apps, and supports voice talk, live movie, third-party app integrations, and now end-to-end encrypted talks. It’s one of the best mobile messaging apps we’ve seen, and an Editors’ Choice winner.

// Compare Similar Products

Snapchat (for iPhone)

Hangouts (for iPhone)

WhatsApp Messenger (for iPhone)

Telegram Messenger (for iPhone)

Signal (for iPhone)

Skype (for iPhone)

Wickr (for iPhone)

Viber – Free Phone Calls & Text Three.0 (for iPhone)

ooVoo (for iPhone)

Downloading and installing Facebook Messenger is a matter of a few taps in the Apple App Store. I had no trouble activating the app on my iPhone six .

If you live in a multi-device household, you’ll be eased to know that there are versions of the app for Android and even Windows Phone! If neither of those work for you, Messenger has an excellent Web interface. It’s one of the very few messaging services that doesn’t require an app to use.

If you don’t have a Facebook account by this point, you’re most likely a reptilian posing as a human being, or living in a Pizza Hut on Mars. Fortunately for you, my scaly friend, you can use Messenger without a Facebook account by simply coming in your phone number. If you are a real human and do have a Facebook account, you can simply log in with that. Note that you do not need to come in your phone number to use Facebook Messenger if you have a Facebook account, nor do you have to share your contacts with the app, however Facebook encourages you to do so.

Right from the embark, Facebook Messenger shows off its focused, minimal aesthetic. The app is mostly white, with pops of Facebook’s familiar blue across. Your most latest talks are at the top of the page, unread ones marked with bold text. Below that are a series of modules, including birthdays, favorites (that is, the people you message most often), and your friends who are presently active. A total list of all your conversations resumes below.

Each message has a little version of your friends’ user pics to the left, and Group messages showcase a divided circle of faces, providing you a quick peek of who is conversing. A truncated preview of the most latest message is shown in the list, which I like because I can determine whether or not to reaction right away. Swipe left over any thread to delete the message, archive it, mark it as spam, or mute the thread. This last option simply muffles notifications on a particular thread for set periods of time, or until you unmute it. You can also block people directly from this menu, which I particularly like.

The navigation along the bottom highlights in blue the section you’re presently in: Home, Calls, Groups, People, or Me. It’s ordinary but effective, having evolved over the years to be progressively lighter to use. Note that the People page is far more than just an address book. Here you can see messages from people you have not friended in the Message Requests section. For the most part, these are junk messages. More than anything, looking at this list makes me appreciate what a good job Facebook does displaying me only significant messages.

You can also scan special Friend Codes from the People section, which adds them as friends on the service. Those friend codes live in the Me section, and are fancy-looking blue QR codes that wreathe your user pic. From the Me section you can add or eliminate your phone number and user name. Both of these can be used to search for you on Messenger, and the latter comes with a shareable super-short URL. The Me section is also where you go to treat your settings for things like payments, photos, and so on.

Albeit the app opens by default to the Home page, you very likely won’t spend too much time there. For example, I usually react to messages from the iOS Notifications pull-down page, or by tapping the thrust alerts as they come in. With iOS Ten, responding to incoming messages is a snap, and doesn’t even require you to open the app.

Facebook Messenger does discern the difference inbetween people who are merely on Facebook and those who have signed up for Facebook Messenger. The latter are marked with a blue icon, indicating that they can receive voice or movie calls, but more on that later. In my testing, finding someone to talk with was not a problem. That’s hardly surprising, as Facebook boasts over 1.7 billion users—making Facebook Messenger much larger than any other talk service, even WhatsApp , can claim.

All the Talk That’s Fit to Print