After what seems like forever, Facebook finally made its Messenger app available on the Windows Phone 8 platform. This is a big deal for Microsoft, as the company is seeking to increase the amount of apps available on its mobile platform, a move that should make Windows Phone 8 more appealing to consumers.
While the app is now available for download on the Windows Phone 8 store, it is not the full representation of what the app can truly do. So far, Android and iOS versions of the Facebook Messenger app are more feature rich, but that doesn't mean future updates won't bring the Windows Phone 8 version up to par.
With the app, users will be able to decorate messages and see who is online for a group or private chat, according to a blog post from Microsoft on Wednesday. Furthermore, contacts are automatically added to the app and users will have the option to share their location if they wish.
"With Facebook Messenger, you will be able to see who's online for a private or group chat, send a private message, and bring messages to life with pictures and stickers. You can also share your location so people can know if you are nearby. All your Facebook friends are automatically added to the People Tab for you to get started sending messages but you can also import new contacts too," says Microsoft.
Unlike the Android and iOS versions of the Facebook Messenger app, users won't be able to record messages, or send images privately. In addition, if users are expecting to see the private chat heads found on other platforms, they will be out of luck.
Having the Facebook Messenger app available for Windows Phone 8 is a good thing for Microsoft, but is it two years too late? We don't think so.
While the Facebook Messenger app was missing from the Windows Phone store, users could still have conversations with their contacts on the social network with a built-in Facebook experience. Compared to the app itself, it wasn't filled with features, but it got the basic and most important job done, and that is giving users the chance to chat with family and friends over Facebook Messenger chat.
With the full experience now available, we should view this as an extension of the built-in experience.
