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xStagGx

macrumors newbie
Jul 27, 2014
7
0
Arent they doing pretty much that?


No, they'll force you to download messenger app.
You won't be able to chat or read MSG on fb app - when you click chat icon you'll be prompted to download messenger app.
 

Black Magic

macrumors 68030
Sep 30, 2012
2,787
1,499
I don't use FaceBook that much but I do have Messenger installed. Not that big of a deal to me. A message comes through, I get a push notification and it launches the app. If they are going to do this though, they need to make an iPad app first. In fact, all messaging services should have an iPad designed version.
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,392
19,459
No, they'll force you to download messenger app.
You won't be able to chat or read MSG on fb app - when you click chat icon you'll be prompted to download messenger app.
I misread what you meant. That said, by removing it they can make it better on its own and in the same way make the standalone app better as well as each one can be better focused and not just a pile of everything which is harder to maintain in general.
 

NY Guitarist

macrumors 68000
Mar 21, 2011
1,585
1,581
Separating messaging doesn't make sense. The only reason people that I know will message through Facebook is usually relevant to things they are posting on Facebook. If you split that off why will people want to use a separate Facebook app for messaging versus other apps?

(i)Messages and Facetime has become my primary method of communicating with family, friends and colleagues, the overwhelming majority of whom have Apple devices.
 

kolax

macrumors G3
Mar 20, 2007
9,181
115
I've no complaints.

I use Facebook Messenger a lot, and rarely browse Facebook these days. While I no longer care about status updates or random things my friends' post, Facebook is as crucial a messaging platform as SMS for me. It is far easier to message someone on Facebook than SMS them because I can do it from my computer, phone and tablet, and I don't have to worry about people getting new numbers.

I'm glad Facebook is focusing more of their efforts on the messaging side of things. I rarely even use WhatsApp now!
 

dustin.haley

macrumors newbie
Jul 9, 2013
19
36
One tangible benefit...

By removing message capabilities from the main app, I would assume the app will no longer be a (huge) drain on the battery... Because the main app had messages, it was able to exploit certain restrictions because it had "voip" capabilities. Having background refresh and location services on should work as expected, without the major drain on the battery.

Pretty sure this was a big issue and covered here and other blogs awhile back.

http://www.overthought.org/blog/2014/the-ultimate-guide-to-solving-ios-battery-drain
 

ArtOfWarfare

macrumors G3
Nov 26, 2007
9,568
6,072
They should go oposit way, remove messenger app and improve it on main FB app. Having 2 apps is just wasting of space, and ram :(
Sad thing is that in Europe whatsapp is not as popular as in US, but ppl are using Facebook chat instead, so switch will be a bit painful ;/

Whatsapp is owned by Facebook, so you can't escape FB by going there.
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,392
19,459
By removing message capabilities from the main app, I would assume the app will no longer be a (huge) drain on the battery... Because the main app had messages, it was able to exploit certain restrictions because it had "voip" capabilities. Having background refresh and location services on should work as expected, without the major drain on the battery.

Pretty sure this was a big issue and covered here and other blogs awhile back.

http://www.overthought.org/blog/2014/the-ultimate-guide-to-solving-ios-battery-drain
Quite right. Doesn't really seem like a bad thing at all.
 

scaredpoet

macrumors 604
Apr 6, 2007
6,628
346
"As we've said, our goal is to focus development efforts on making Messenger the best mobile messaging experience possible and avoid the confusion of having separate Facebook mobile messaging experiences."

How about this: Let's avoid the confusion of having separate apps for social networking and messaging, and dump the Facebook Messenger app, instead?
 

larrylaffer

macrumors 6502a
Aug 1, 2009
695
1,307
Los Angeles
What's with this growing trend of social networks separating features into separate apps? Foursquare just did this and the app store reviews for it are scathing to say the least.
 

iOSaddict

macrumors regular
Jun 3, 2014
198
0
Facebook Messenger is a well-executed app. I dont know where all these hates come from....

Now if only they would make Paper available for iPad, worldwide.

On a different note, Swarm is fugly as **** and uninteresting. I deleted foursquare.
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,392
19,459
"As we've said, our goal is to focus development efforts on making Messenger the best mobile messaging experience possible and avoid the confusion of having separate Facebook mobile messaging experiences."

How about this: Let's avoid the confusion of having separate apps for social networking and messaging, and dump the Facebook Messenger app, instead?
They see the two as separate items. One is social networking and the other is messaging.
 

ssdeg7

macrumors 6502a
Jul 15, 2010
749
2
I think it's a good move. It's not like if Apple made a huge App that does everything, they made an app for messages, an app for phone, an app for calendar and so on.

Facebook should strip off the messaging stuff from their main app and focus on making it faster and better (specially on older phones, it runs like hell on old phones).

Facebook is an entire ecosystem and just one app to handle everything is tough to build, it has too many tradeoffs (specially on a mobile device).
 

scaredpoet

macrumors 604
Apr 6, 2007
6,628
346
They see the two as separate items. One is social networking and the other is messaging.

The problem with "seeing" it that way is that the two share a common platform based on the social networking aspect, and the experience is not similarly separated on the web. By separating out Messenger, they aren't differentiating themselves. In fact, by doing this they're giving themselves little differentiation from kik, or BBM, or iMessage, or whatsapp, or the trillion other messaging platforms out there.
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,392
19,459
The problem with "seeing" it that way is that the two share a common platform based on the social networking aspect, and the experience is not similarly separated on the web. By separating out Messenger, they aren't differentiating themselves. In fact, by doing this they're giving themselves little differentiation from kik, or BBM, or iMessage, or whatsapp, or the trillion other messaging platforms out there.
Seems like that's how they want to go. Messaging is also present in Gmail on the web but on the phone Gmail app doesn't contain it and messaging using Google is done via the Hangouts app.
 

shandyman

Suspended
Apr 24, 2010
6,458
397
Dublin, Ireland
I used messages on my regular FB app yesterday.


It's been partially implemented for some people for 3-4 months now. It's been this way for me for that long. If I hit the message tab in the FB app it kicks me to the messages app. I think if you don't have the messages app installed, you'd still go to the native messages tab in the FB app. The difference will be that they will now stop that.
 

mentaluproar

macrumors 68000
May 25, 2010
1,766
216
Ohio, USA
Facebook to Cut Messaging From Main App in Effort to Focus on Facebook Messenger

If I must use a separate program, it will not be theirs.
 
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