Facebook Messenger might soon be re-integrated into the main app

Sometimes, you make a decision, and years later you look back upon that moment and think: Wait, why the hell did I do that?

Now, Facebook appears to be experiencing something of the sort. According to app researcher Jane Manchun Wong (via The Verge), the company is testing the possibility of bringing Facebook messages back into Facebook’s main mobile app. 

In the test version Wong has spotted, the Messenger button appears in the top right, and instead of taking you to Messenger, the app, it opens a section called “Chats” inside the Facebook app. The built-in messaging app offers only basic functionality, while for some advanced features — like adding reactions to messages, making calls or sending photos — you still need to go through the Messenger app. 

Messenger became separated from Facebook’s main app back in 2011, and frankly, from a user perspective, I never liked the move. To me, Messenger was always inextricably linked to Facebook, and having to download it as a separate app is annoying. 

In January 2019, a report from the New York Times said Facebook is looking to integrate all of its messaging platforms, including Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp, into one. Perhaps integrating the Messenger and Facebook mobile apps is the first step towards that goal. 

This likely does not mean the end of Messenger and the bundling of everything into one monster app. The NYT‘s report claimed Facebook is looking to keep the services distinct, while merging the data in the back end. Facebook reportedly expects to integrate these services by 2020.