Facebook presents: Messenger 4, the simplest one so far.

On october 23, via their blog, Facebook unveiled what would be the next update for their messaging app, named Messenger 4. This update brings a messaging platform more prepared for the new generation of smartphones and tablets, with a view that we dare call futuristic.

Less is more

In the past, Facebook used to add options to the app with a simple button or a tab right on home which looked okay until we got to 9, the magic number of choices we have now making look messenger quite cluttered. Now, Messenger 4 throws that out the window in favor of 3 simple tabs on the lower part of the screen: “Chats”, “People” and Discover, with a pair of buttons on the upper-right corner for settings and the camera. So far, none of the nine options we had has vanished, they are all simply condensed on this three tabs.

Taking advantage of OLED

As we know, the new generation of smartphones incorporates the best screens available today and Facebook has taken note of this. They had already incorporated an option to change the colors of each messaging screen, now it comes back remastered, adding an option to choose gradient colors that move from one color to the other as you scroll up or down the screen, making it more customizable and appealing. Also, the added the “Dark Mode” option which changes the background of your conversations to a dark screen that looks great on OLED, this was done to lower the brightness of smartphones, since its much likely that Facebook knows that some of us keep messaging at night, before going to sleep.

Listening to the audience

Is very clear where Facebook’s head at when they think about the messaging app. According to their report, 7 out of 10 say that simplicity is their first priority when thinking about instant messaging, while 62% of people that frequently use Messenger claim it makes them feel closer to friends and family, when we look at these changes, the statistics and our own personal use, it’s obvious that Facebook has their ears constantly on the ground to make sure that users keep feeling great with their service and remember that the company will always be on top of the new tech.

Sources

itam.newsroom.fb.com