Facebook Messenger finally gets a facelift

If there’s one thing we’re are NOT dealing with anymore in tech, it’s nonsensical clutter. Sadly however, as Facebook is such an inherit part of our lives we’ve been forced to use the bloated Messenger app for years now.

Starting today, that changes. The global roll out will happen progressively, giving users a chance to get used to the new layout before anything drastic happens – but from where I sit these are all phenomenally positive changes. Kicking off with;

ONLY THREE MODULES/TABS

Down from the ridiculous NINE tabs that nobody was ever using. Before we had ‘Messages’, ‘Active’, ‘Groups’, ‘Calls’, ‘Home’, ‘People’, ‘Camera’, ‘Games’ and ‘Discover’. Now I don’t know about you but I have never used a single tab except for the main message one… Which is why we’re down to three;

‘Chats’, ‘People’ and ‘Discover’. Finally something significantly cleaner and more usable. From the screenshots we’ve seen, we believe the simplified style will go over really well with consumers.

CHAT GRADIENTS

Chat what? Colour gradients. We’ve had the ability to change the colour of chats with our friends for a while, but Facebook have now added the ability for chat gradients. While nothing incredible or groundbreaking, it sure is nice to look at;

It will work in such a way that as you scroll up or down through the chat, the colours will change as you go. This might not suit most users but it will be entirely optional.

NIGHT MODE

Roughly a thousand years behind every other app, Messenger is now incorporating a ‘Night’ mode into the app that makes low-light use much easier on your eyes. It looks a little like;

I think it’s really cool they’ve still incorporated the colour gradients into the mode which keeps the app looking nice.

Ultimately as these changes progressively make their way accross the world there will be some backlash… people are adverse to change. But a quick overview of where Messenger is now, and where Facebook propose it’ll be – there’s no reason to fear this. It’s a good thing.