Facebook's standalone messaging platform, the aptly named Facebook Messenger, has become almost as popular as Facebook itself. As of January, Messenger had 800 million monthly users, which—as a point of comparison—is more than all the monthly users of Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat combined. Not too shabby.
But Zuck & Co. appear to have far bigger plans for Messenger than just being Facebook's chatty kid sibling. In recent months, Facebook has packed a lot of cool (and somewhat unexpected) functionality into Messenger and has hinted at a lot more to come. For example, the company recently partnered with KLM Airlinesto allow Messenger to be a boarding pass (which we didn't get a chance to test) and is rumored to be developing mobile payment functionality for retail stores(which we very much look forward to testing).
It seems that Facebook, Inc. is grooming Messenger to become an all-in-one productivity/communication platform. But even in its current state, Messenger is one of the most versatile messaging apps out there. I certainly discovered a bunch while researching this article.
One note of warning: For all the resources Facebook has packed into Messenger, it quickly became obvious during the writing of this feature that cross-OS coherence was not one of its guiding principles. Messenger's functionality can vary greatly across devices. I tested these Messenger features on an iPad, Android phone (an older Galaxy phone running Lollipop to be specific), and the Web app. Even when features aren't completely missing from particular platforms, they may need to be accessed in radically different ways. Just know that when attempting any Messenger magic yourself.
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