Facebook Messenger Adds Support for Text Messages for Android Users

The social media tech-giant Facebook, made an announcement on Tuesday that the Messenger app now supports SMS. Android users will now be able to set the app as their default texting client.

Facebook Messenger Adds Support for Text Messages for Android Users

Now the update is available on Messenger’s Android app. It doesn’t seem that Facebook has any plan to add this feature to its iOS app.

Also Read: Facebook Pushing Mobile Web Users to Shift to Messenger

Once the feature is enabled through the “default SMS app” option in Messenger’s settings, users will be able to view text messages in Messenger alongside Facebook chats. It will somehow support, but not all of Facebook’s “rich content” such as stickers, emoji, audio, photos and location information.

Facebook will differentiate between Facebook messages and SMS with contrasting colors: Facebook’s will be blue whereas SMS will be purple. Users will be able to witness the Messenger icon just below the photo of their friends who use Messenger.

In 2012, Facebook first added SMS support to Messenger’s Android app, but afterwards hauled the feature. Now, with a growing preeminence on Messenger, the social network is probably anticipating to ramp up assurance with the app even more.

Ever since the company has pushed users to download the Messenger separately from the Facebook app, it has been proved dubious. Last week, it started addressing the left over Messenger moderators by eliminating messaging from the Facebook mobile web app, a shift that angered many users.

Also Read: How to Stop Facebook from Tracing Your Location

In a post the company underscored that using the app as a new default SMS patron was arbitrary and that users privacy will be of key importance.

The company further stated:

“SMS in Messenger doesn’t send, upload or store your conversations on Facebook servers. Using this feature is your choice; you can easily switch to a different app as your primary SMS app from your device settings, or directly from the app that you want to make your primary SMS app.”