Facebook has added video-calling to its Messenger app in its attempt to become a one-stop shop for people's communication. Users can now have face-to-face conversations with their friends and the people they care about via Messenger.
Stan Chudnovsky, Head of Product for Messenger and Param Reddy, Engineering Manager made the announcement on Facebook Newsroom on Monday, April 27.
In the wake of Skype and Hangouts stealing the show, the social networking giant is no longer content to sit on the sidelines. Facebook is trying to transform its mobile messaging service into a full-featured platform, Reuters noted.
How to start a video call?
Starting a video call from any conversation is really easy.
Whether using an Android or iOS device while messaging with someone, users can simply choose the video icon in the top right corner of the screen and start video call right from within an existing Messenger conversation.
Messenger launched voice and video calling between computers earlier this year and it already allows people to make voice calls to friends and loved ones around the world. Video calling will further expand Messenger's real-time communication features, allowing over 600 million people every month to reach friends, family and their loved ones irrespective of where they are, from anywhere.
In addition, it's of high quality, dependable and fast.
Messenger's video calling is available for calls made from a mobile phone to another mobile phone, even if one person is on an Android and the other on iOS device.
The feature is currently available in 18 countries including the United States, UK, Uruguay, Portugal, Poland, Oman, Norway, Nigeria, Lithuania, Laos, Ireland, Greece, France, Mexico, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, and Canada. Facebook promised to roll it out to other countries over the coming month, according to PCMag.
With its new video calling feature, Messenger now competes with rivals Skype (Microsoft Corp), FaceTime (Apple), and Hangouts (Google Inc.), all of which allow video calls either between mobile devices or computers.
This is the latest feature released for Messenger following the ability to send money to friends, the introduction of Businesses on Messenger (coming soon) and the launch of Messenger Platform. At Facebook's annual developer conference last month, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the social network would introduce multiple features within Messengers.
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