{"id":130977,"date":"2019-05-10T21:34:28","date_gmt":"2019-05-10T19:34:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=130977"},"modified":"2025-07-01T21:59:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T04:59:02","slug":"facebook-messenger-hidden-features","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/facebook-messenger-hidden-features\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook Messenger’s coolest hidden features"},"content":{"rendered":"

Look, Facebook Messenger is great for sending messages to your friends, but if that\u2019s all you\u2019re using it for, you\u2019re seriously missing out.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Over the past few years, Messenger\u2019s lineup of features has beefed up a ton. It\u2019s an all-in-one platform these days, teeming with games, chatbots, productivity features, and more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

At the beginning of the year, Facebook rolled out its buzzed-about redesign:<\/p>\n

\"Facebook<\/p>\n

It gave the once overcrowded app a clean, fresh-looking interface. Now, some of the coolest features are hidden behind a four-dot icon.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Whether you\u2019re new to Messenger or haven\u2019t ventured beyond the dots, here are some features and tricks to know:<\/p>\n

1. Use Messenger without an account<\/h2>\n

Facebook Messenger can work without Facebook?<\/strong> Well, yeah.<\/a><\/p>\n

Hey, we get it, Facebook isn\u2019t everyone\u2019s thing. Many of us grapple with breaking up with FB, and a few actually go through with it.<\/p>\n

Still, if all your friends are group messaging on Facebook without you, you don\u2019t need to reactivate to join the thread.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Instead, download the app. When you get to the log-in screen, say you don\u2019t have an account. From there, you can register your account with a phone number<\/strong> and use it to sign in.<\/p>\n

2. Send money to your pals<\/h2>\n

\"fb<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no shortage of mobile payment apps<\/strong>, so this whole cashless revolution thing is old news at this point. However, hitting up your friends for money or paying them back for last night\u2019s drinks no longer means you have to leave Facebook.<\/p>\n

Add your debit card or PayPal account to Messenger<\/strong> by tapping your photo at the top of the app, then selecting \u201cpayments.\u201d There, you can link the account of your choosing, along with a PIN or fingerprint for a layer of security.<\/p>\n

To send or request money, all you do is choose the dollar sign next to the text field, fill in the amount, then add your payment information.<\/p>\n

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\r\n Messenger<\/span>\r\n Download Messenger \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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3. Add extensions to your chat<\/h2>\n

Facebook Messenger extensions are third-party apps that connect to your account. This way, you can access apps through your open chat window.\u00a0<\/strong>You can also share articles, playlists, and more with your contacts.<\/p>\n

Here, you\u2019ll find games, apps like Spotify, OpenTable, Kayak, or The Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n

Want to make your friends a mixtape? Log into Spotify and share your picks through Messenger.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll need to link your accounts (i.e. log into Spotify using your Facebook credentials).<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"Spotify\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Spotify<\/span>\r\n Download Now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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4. Create Stories<\/h2>\n

Yep, just like Snapchat, Instagram, and now, even LinkedIn, Facebook lets you tell your story through videos and filters.<\/p>\n

The app has a feature called\u00a0My Day<\/strong>, which allows you to add videos and photos to your \u201cday feed.\u201d You can share moments with your friends. Like Instagram and Snapchat, FB\u2019s version expires after 24 hours.<\/p>\n

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\r\n \"Instagram\"\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Instagram<\/span>\r\n Download Now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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5. Encrypted conversations<\/h2>\n

If you\u2019re wary of how social media channels are stealing all of our data, you\u2019re not alone.<\/p>\n

But you don\u2019t have to switch to Signal or WhatsApp to chat off the grid. Instead, Messenger allows you to encrypt from right inside the app. Messenger actually uses Signal protocol here to ensure that only you and the other person can see the message. Not even FB can read your messages.<\/p>\n

To turn on Secret Conversations<\/strong>, all you need to do is, tap the little \u201cI\u201d at the top of the screen and select \u201cgo to Secret Conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

There is a caveat \u2014 no group chats allowed<\/strong>. Secret Conversations are limited to one-on-one convos only.<\/p>\n

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\r\n WhatsApp Messenger<\/span>\r\n Download Now \u25ba<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
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6. Send files<\/h2>\n

Sending files is something you can do with all sorts of platforms these days, but the beauty of messenger lies in its multifunctionality. The chat app supports multiple types of files, so you can easily send friends photos, PDFs, or Word Docs without clicking around multiple tabs. Sure, FB\u2019s file sharing feature<\/strong> isn\u2019t groundbreaking, but sometimes these little timesavers are a real gift.<\/p>\n

7. Dark Mode<\/h2>\n

\"crescent<\/p>\n

Dark mode<\/strong> was one of the most requested features for Messenger, and now our nighttime dreams have become a reality. Some users believe that dark mode reduces the eye strain that comes from looking at a bright white screen for hours on end. Others just think the inverted color scheme looks cool. Google says that activating dark mode preserves battery life on Android phones<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here’s a step-by-step guide to activate dark mode on Messenger.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

In summary<\/h2>\n

Messenger’s hidden tips and tricks can help you make the most of the messaging service. Although some of us have our issues with the big FB, Messenger’s free service<\/strong> keeps us coming back.<\/p>\n

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More on Messenger<\/p>\r\n

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How to see your chat history on Messenger \u25ba<\/p>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Learn how to use Facebook Messenger like a pro.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9161,"featured_media":131693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[2518,2441],"tags":[2445,1059,1063,1921,1040],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-130977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guides","category-how-to","tag-app-subdomain-redirectionfacebook-messenger","tag-facebook","tag-facebook-messenger","tag-lifehacks","tag-messaging-apps"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130977"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":326088,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130977\/revisions\/326088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130977"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=130977"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=130977"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=130977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}