Meta-owned Facebook says that it's bringing its Messenger Inbox back to the actual Facebook app for the first time since it removed it way back in 2014.
Facebook Messenger users haven't been able to access their Inbox in the actual Facebook app since it was pulled almost a decade ago, but the company says that it's now working on the possibility of fixing that, meaning you won't need a separate "Messenger" app to use Facebook Messenger.
Some Facebook users have already started to be invited into a testing program that allows them to read Messenger messages in the Facebook app on their iPhones, likely for the first time for many of them.
Facebook gets the message
The inability to read Messenger messages in Facebook has long felt like a glaring omission, but the company said in a blog post that it's ready to fix that.
"We are testing the ability for people to access their Messenger inbox within the Facebook app and you’ll see us expand this testing soon," Facebook said. And that was basically all it said about the feature.
However, some people have already reported being invited to test the relocated Inbox out, perhaps a sign that Facebook is indeed expanding its existing testing pool to bring new users online.
Well that’s new on Facebook 👇Cc @MattNavarra pic.twitter.com/bPqYRV8DPuDecember 25, 2022
Facebook also took the opportunity to remind everyone that it is indeed in rude health, despite reports that suggested it is in decline.
"Contrary to reports otherwise, Facebook is not dead nor dying, but in fact alive and thriving with 2 billion daily active users," the blog post kicked off by saying. From there, Facebook spent a lot of words to try and convince everyone that it's doing great.
In reality, Facebook and parent company Meta continue to struggle in a world where people's trust in the platform continues to erode. Strong competition from TikTok isn't helping of course, but Twitter's recent attempts to implode might be helping Facebook at this point.
Facebook has long been one of the most-downloaded apps on the iPhone, but it's no longer at the top of the list. Once upon a time, Facebook was the first app people installed when buying a new iPhone. That doesn't seem to be the case right now, whether they're buying a mid-range iPhone SE or the very best iPhone that Apple has to offer.
Putting the Messenger Inbox back into the Facebook app is unlikely to change that alone. But it does at least fix one of the biggest irritations that existing users have had to deal with for years.
