{"id":54313,"date":"2013-10-29T21:44:29","date_gmt":"2013-10-29T19:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/onsoftware.en.softonic.com\/?p=54313"},"modified":"2025-07-02T01:03:51","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T08:03:51","slug":"facebook-redesigns-messenger-for-android-and-ios-removes-sms-functionality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/facebook-redesigns-messenger-for-android-and-ios-removes-sms-functionality\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook redesigns Messenger for Android and iOS, removes SMS functionality"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Facebook Messenger\" href=\"http:\/\/news.en.softonic.com\/b\/facebook-messenger\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Facebook Messenger<\/a> is getting a major redesign, both visually and functionally. The design is strikingly different from previous versions, matching the flat and colorful design of both <a title=\"iOS 7\" href=\"http:\/\/features.en.softonic.com\/ios-7-everything-you-need-to-know\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">iOS 7<\/a> and <a title=\"What to expect from Android 4.4\" href=\"http:\/\/features.en.softonic.com\/what-to-expect-from-android-4-4\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Android 4.4 KitKat<\/a>. Contacts are shown in a list with a subtle icon next to their profile picture. A blue lighting bolt means your friend is using Facebook Messenger, and will receive the message immediately on his or her phone. \u00a0Contacts without Messenger are denoted by a grayed out Facebook icon.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-54318\" title=\"Facebook Messenger updated interface\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/10\/110-378x568.png\" alt=\"Facebook Messenger updated interface\" width=\"378\" height=\"568\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/10\/110-378x568.png 378w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/10\/110-170x256.png 170w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/10\/110.png 730w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 378px) 100vw, 378px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Although SMS functionality has been removed from Facebook Messenger, the social network isn&#8217;t leaving you stranded. If you message a contact without Messenger, the app will send the message to their Facebook inbox, even if you&#8217;re not Facebook Friends. This means the new Messenger requires users to submit their mobile numbers, like <a title=\"WhatsApp\" href=\"http:\/\/en.softonic.com\/s\/whatsapp:iphone-android\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WhatsApp<\/a>. Still, this will disappoint those who have been using Messenger as their SMS app. Fortunately, Google has just announced that Hangouts will be <a title=\"Google Hangouts for Android gets location sharing, animated gifs and SMS integration\" href=\"http:\/\/news.en.softonic.com\/google-hangouts-for-android-gets-location-sharing-animated-gifs-and-sms-integration\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">supporting SMS<\/a> soon.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-54319\" title=\"Facebook Messenger updated conversation look\" src=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/sft\/articles\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/10\/22-378x568.png\" alt=\"Facebook Messenger updated conversation look\" width=\"378\" height=\"568\" srcset=\"https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/10\/22-378x568.png 378w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/10\/22-170x256.png 170w, https:\/\/articles-img.sftcdn.net\/auto-mapping-folder\/sites\/3\/2013\/10\/22.png 730w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 378px) 100vw, 378px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The app has also been updated for performance, with a more responsive app around the entire interface. Facebook has also promised to push updates to Messenger more often, helping the messaging app catch up to competitors more quickly.<\/p>\n<p>The new Facebook Messenger is being pushed to a limited number of <a title=\"Android\" href=\"http:\/\/news.en.softonic.com\/t\/android\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Android<\/a> users today. The update will roll out to the rest of iOS and Android users &#8220;in the coming weeks.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h4>RELATED STORIES<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/news.en.softonic.com\/google-hangouts-for-android-gets-location-sharing-animated-gifs-and-sms-integration\">Google Hangouts for Android gets location sharing, animated gifs and SMS integration<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/features.en.softonic.com\/will-snapchat-steal-facebooks-crown\">Will Snapchat steal Facebook&#8217;s crown?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/news.en.softonic.com\/report-snapchat-turned-down-1-billion-offer-from-facebook\">Report: Snapchat turned down $1 billion+ offer from Facebook<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/h4>\n<p>[Source: <a title=\"Facebook Newsroom release\" href=\"http:\/\/newsroom.fb.com\/News\/753\/Testing-a-New-Messenger-Experience-on-Android\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Facebook<\/a> | <a title=\"Facebook redesigns Messenger again: less Facebook, more messaging\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theverge.com\/2013\/10\/29\/5041976\/facebook-revamps-messenger-for-ios-and-android\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Verge<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Facebook Messenger is getting a major redesign, both visually and functionally. The design is strikingly different from previous versions, matching the flat and colorful design of both iOS 7 and Android 4.4 KitKat. Contacts are shown in a list with a subtle icon next to their profile picture. A blue lighting bolt means your friend &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/facebook-redesigns-messenger-for-android-and-ios-removes-sms-functionality\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Facebook redesigns Messenger for Android and iOS, removes SMS functionality&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2033,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":0},"categories":[],"tags":[2353],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-54313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-app-subdomain-redirectionfacebook"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54313","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\/2033"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54313"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":331900,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54313\/revisions\/331900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54313"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=54313"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=54313"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=54313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}