Source: TechCrunch
What you need to know
- A report has revealed Facebook's plans to overhaul its Messenger app.
- Developer screenshots show that the Discover tab is on its way out.
- Chat bots, business and games are being hidden from view, and chat bots are being demoted.
A new report has revealed Facebook's plans to overhaul its Messenger app, an update Facebook says will begin rolling out shortly.
As reported by TechCrunch:
Chat bots were central to Facebook Messenger's strategy three years ago. Now they're being hidden from view in the app along with games and businesses. Facebook Messenger is now removing the Discover tab as it focuses on speed and simplicity instead of broad utility like China's WeChat.
The changes are part of a larger Messenger redesign that reorients the People tab around Stories as Facebook continues to try to dominate the ephemeral social media format it copied from Snapchat. The People tab now defaults to a full-screen sub-tab of friends' Stories, and requires a tap over to the Active sub tab to see which friends are online now.
The change will apparently push users towards more time spent speaking with friends and viewing content, rather than speaking with chat bots, business and playing games. The Discover tab looks to be out, meaning the only tabs you'll see will be Chat and People. People will have two sub-tabs, one for Stories and one for Active.
According to the report, a Facebook spokesperson has confirmed that this redesign will "soon start rolling out", and that some of you might already have the update. More rollouts are planned this week. Facebook said it was delivering on its promise in August that it would eventually get rid of Discover.
Features like Chat bots, businesses and games are being hidden, however, now you'll have to purposefully search for them in the Messenger search bar in order to find them.
The update seems to suggest that Facebook is pushing messenger in the direction of WhatsApp in order to become a streamlined and focused messenger service, rather than a do-it-all utility app like China's WeChat.
As mentioned, some of you may already have this update, and more of you will get it next week.

VoLTE: How to use it and why you should care
VoLTE — or Voice over LTE — is the new standard for calling throughout the U.S., Canada, and parts of Europe. Not only does it facilitate much higher call quality between cell phones, but it allows devices to stay connected to LTE while on a call, improving data speeds for everyone.

Qualcomm Snapdragon 888: Everything you need to know
The Snapdragon 888 is here, and we have all the details. The chipset is set to power 2021 flagships, and delivers an incredible 25% increase in performance over the last generation. Here's everything you need to know about the Snapdragon 888.

Samsung's Galaxy S21 series misses out on this useful Android feature
The latest Galaxy S21 series phones from Samsung lack a useful feature that Google had launched five years back: seamless updates.

Keep your wallet put away and pay with your Wear OS watch
Ready to start paying for your coffee with just your watch? Here are all the Wear OS devices that support Google Pay!