As Facebook prepares to roll all its messaging services together (including WhatsApp and Instagram), it might also turn back the clock and reintegrate Messenger back its its main app.
Facebook appears to be considering re-adding Messenger to its core app, years after removing it and spinning it out into a separate app.
Jane Manchun Wong, a tech researcher who digs into popular apps’ code to find unannounced features and internal tests, posted on Twitter on Thursday screenshots that show the Silicon Valley tech giant is exploring the idea of putting Messenger back inside Facebook itself on smartphones.
The potential move comes as Facebook is embarking on an ambitious project to more tightly integrate its messaging services – Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram direct messages – with encrypted messaging; a move that Facebook says is supposed to promote privacy, but that has been interpreted by critics as an attempt to fend off the rising threat of anti-trust action over the company’s dominance.
