Mobile applications really seem to want to retire SMS and Facebook also offers its instant messaging system to communicate in real time by receiving and sending text messages. Facebook Messenger is an application for iPhone and Android phones, released in 2011 and also available in Italian. It is a program specifically created for chatting and for exchanging messages with Facebook friends . However, it is not only a chat program but also a way to send SMS for free to the contacts in your address book. The application also allows group messaging, sending your location with messages, real-time notifications and sending photos with messages, phone calls and video calls.
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Facebook Messenger is a little different from the chat available in official applications on iPhone and Android.
On the Facebook Messenger site there are links to download the application, free of charge and in Italian, on iPhone and Android . From the same site it is also possible to access Facebook Messenger from a PC .
You can also download Messenger Lite, the light version of Facebook chat for Android .
Messenger is a separate application that requires just one click to read private messages or send new ones . The messages are delivered immediately as if they were SMS, via push notifications on the smartphone. All conversations can be viewed from the general screen which shows the same chronological list of messages, also visible from your account via the web.
With Messenger it is also possible to start a group conversation by sending the same message to several people who will be able to reply to all the members involved in the message.
If you choose to add your position, you can be identified on the map. It is also possible to send photos attached to the message so that you can then receive comments.
READ ALSO: Messenger can also be used without a Facebook account
The best thing is that you can send text messages to your phone's contacts, even if they're not on Facebook's friends list.
For the moment, it seems really premature to call it an attempt to replace the old and expensive text message because it doesn't seem to me to work with all the numbers as it should but maybe it's just a matter of time. Non-Facebook contacts to whom a message is sent via Messenger should receive an SMS message from a random number (but in my test it didn't work).
When you go to write a message, you can choose one of the contacts listed automatically, including your closest friends and all online contacts in the chat, or search for the name of a friend registered in the phone book.
The message can then be sent to chat in real time with the online contacts who will see it even if they are connected to the Facebook site from the computer.
Instead, the others can send the message almost as if it were an SMS directly, by selecting their mobile number, if it is in the address book or if published in the Facebook profile details.
Another article explains how to disable Facebook Messenger notifications on Android and iPhone .
Those who do not have an iPhone and Android smartphone can instead activate the reception of Facebook messages via SMS (only Tim, Wind and Vodafone).
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