Facebook has launched the Messenger app for MacOS and Windows to help people connect with their friends and family and video chat with them on their computers. The desktop version will have the same functions and features as those of the Android app. The news comes at a time when people globally are staying in their homes due to the Coronavirus outbreak.
‘Over the past month, we saw more than a 100 per cent increase in people using their desktop browser for audio and video calling on Messenger. Now with apps for MacOS and Windows, the best of Messenger is coming to desktop, including unlimited and free group video calls,’ Stan Chudnovsky, Vice President of Messenger, said in a blog post.
Having a desktop version of the app will help people make group video calls and communicate on a larger screen. The desktop app supports multitasking, which means that you can also chat while doing other things on the computer. The app will also deliver notifications for new messages, which you can choose to mute and snooze. Moreover, you can sync chats across mobile and desktop.
Recently, Facebook announced that the Messenger app will soon be able to notify friends about what you are doing. The feature, which works like the Instagram Threads app’s 'Auto Status’ feature, accesses a user’s location, uses an accelerometer to measure how fast you’re moving, and counts your steps to give your friends information about your whereabouts. The ‘Auto Status’ feature will only tell the kind of place you are in, like a restaurant, theatre, or the type of activity you are doing, like driving and running.
