Facebook messenger for Android now supports multiple accounts
Facebook has officially rolled out multiple-account support for its Android Messenger app. The feature, which was previously tested with beta users and some non-beta users and lets multiple people to log in and use Messenger from a single device, reports Digital Trends.
In the updated Messenger for Android, messages for different accounts are kept separate from each other. “Anyone else who shares the device will just see the number of notifications of messages that you have, but they will never be able to see the content of your messages,” according to Facebook’s post.
According to Facebook this is how the new feature can be activated:
- In the Messenger for Android settings, look for a section called 'Accounts'.
- Add the accounts related to each person - signing up with Messenger takes only a few steps, and you don't need to be on Facebook.
- The first time someone switches from another account on a phone to their account, we will require a password. After this, the user can choose whether to always require a password.
- In just three steps, you can move between accounts, and your private messages will always remain just that - private. It's as simple as that.
- Of course if you want to stop sharing a phone, it's simple to remove your account from that particular device.
This should be a welcome feature for families who share a tablet, for instance. While users can see notifications for new messages and unread counts for all accounts on their shared device, the actual contents of an account’s messages will only be visible if you switch to that account. If the user chose to require a password for each switch, their messages will be safeguarded from prying eyes.
On a separate Messenger-related note, a recently leaked document showed that Facebook has plans to introduce advertisements to its Messenger app. The ads would be sent to customers who have previously chatted with the business sending the ads, reports Digital Trends.
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