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  • Facebook Updates Messenger for iOS
Technology Articles > Cell Phones > iPhone > Facebook Updates Messenger for iOS

The Facebook Messenger app for iOS is both fun and handy, but it’s nothing compared to what RIM has going with BBM. In fact, most people who own a BlackBerry phone prize this smartphone for BBM alone, so it’s a pretty tough instant messenger app to beat. But, Facebook was never one to be left behind and the social media company is trying desperately to take BBM’s place on the iOS front. It’s also worth nothing that BlackBerry might not be around much longer, but that’s news for a different review. If you use Facebook Messenger for iOS, you know that this messaging program is lacking in some ways. One of those ways is that Messenger doesn’t include read receipts, which are really handy.

Now, however, Facebook has added read receipts to the new Messenger. If you are a Facebook Messenger fan and you have an Apple device, you’ll definitely want to know what this update can do – and you’ll want to update sooner rather than later. Just to let you know what’s happening before you decide to push that app update button, here’s a quick rundown of Facebook’s new app and what you can expect from it.

Using the New Messenger App

As usual, update to the new Messenger app is as simple as clicking that little “update” button when looking at your app store app. Once update, you’ll notice that all of your Facebook messages look relatively the same, only you’ll see a small read receipt underneath each message that you’ve read – makes sense, right? Another small change that Facebook has made is to those small buttons underneath a message that indicate someone is responding to the message. You’ll still see those small dots, but now you’ll also see the name of the person who’s responding – pretty cool, isn’t it?

Location-wise, Facebook has always been at the forefront, and the social media giant is now letting users see where other users are located in the main panel. This is another small adjustment that Facebook has made to the app, but it’s an adjustment that many people are certainly going to find useful (of course, you have to enable location data, but that’s a given). However, Facebook has fallen short of some expectations with the new chat update too.

Some Changes Still Needed

You still can’t access video chat with the Facebook Messenger app. That’s one change that many people were banking on that just isn’t happening right now. The other drawback is that there still isn’t a native Facebook Messenger iPad app. Why Facebook hasn’t update or created for the iPad is still unknown, thought we’re all hoping that this app does arrive relatively soon – and it really should. So, there you have it: Facebook has updated the iOS Messenger app, but most of these adjustments are good.

If you have an iPhone and you want to update (you should) updates are available now so go ahead and get with the current Messenger times (unless, of course, you have an iPad…then you’re out of luck for now!).