5 Secret Facebook Messenger Features That You Are Probably Not Using Yet

Facebook has become more than just an ordinary social media site. It helps connect people in a lot of insane ways, one of which is its messaging platform called Messenger. In fact, this functionality is starting to become as popular as Mark Zuckerberg’s app and the billions of users alone is a living proof to that.

But believe it or not, Messenger is not just about, well, being a messaging tool. It is starting to evolve to more than just its base functionality. It is like an all-in-one app, with tons of exciting features to offer.

In a report from FHM, it appears that there are a handful of useful tricks and/or features from the platform. And you will definitely love the sophistication the developers put into each of them. Below are five of these. Check them out!

#1. You can play games – all the time!

If you have not known this yet, you might be living under a rock. Messenger actually comes with a number of playable games. If you want to play basketball with a friend, just send him/her a basketball emoji. If it is soccer you like, then simply send him/or a soccer ball emoji. If you want a more challenging set, you can play the likes of “Cut the Rope 2,” “Scrabble,” and “Pac-Man.” You can play all of these by simply tapping the gamepad icon located at the bottom part of the chat screen.

#2. Add contacts like a pro by using Messenger code.

Sometimes, you would want to chat to someone but without the burden of adding him/or on Facebook. Perhaps, you just want to keep the privacy between you or something. Well, the trick to do is with ease is by using the Messenger code. To see your own code, just click your profile picture on the app itself. Then, click Settings and you will eventually see your profile surrounded by tons of dashes and dots. These are actually your code. Whenever you scan someone’s code using the phone’s camera, you will automatically add that person as contact. The only catch? He/she will not necessarily be your Facebook friend. Cool, right?

#3. You do not need your phone to use Messenger.

At first, this would have been impossible. But now, the developers have upgraded the app. Basically, you just need to access the app’s online version (Messenger.com). This standalone site works exactly the same as the app version, but it offers more convenience. If you feel like accessing the messaging platform without getting distracted by Facebook’s notifications, simply use the website version. That is it!

#4. You can chat with a bot.

If you feel like no one is talking to you – or your simply bored to the nth level – you can always chat with a bot. Yes, that is right – Messenger has a feature that allows users to exchange messages with a bot. It can even give you options about what sort of stories you want to hear, if for instance you are following a certain page. You can also adjust the notifications in a way that the bot will provide you with the most recent updates. It sounds a bit stretch, but it is actually fun – and intuitive.

#5. The Chatbox shortcut.

Of course, this list will be useless if the Chatbox shortcut is not included here. Apparently though, this trick is only applicable to Android users (sorry, iOS!). For instance, you have someone that you are always in contact with. This could be your significant other, parents, or siblings, just to name a few. You can create a shortcut directly to your phone’s home screen. How exactly? Just long press any of the conversation you want to create a shortcut for. Then simply click “Create shortcut,” and you should be able to see a shortcut with the person’s name on it. You will no longer go through the entire process of opening the app itself if you want to connect to someone.