Discuss Messengertipsat http://www.facebook.com/webusermagazine 27 Nov-10Dec 2019^51Secret tips forMessengerordeletetheconversation.
Therearemorecustomisationoptions
behindthe‘i’iconinthechatitself.Here,
youcanchangethatchat’shighlight
colourfromthedefaultblueandswitch
itsresponseemojifromthedefault
thumbs-up;givethechatanickname;
searchitsmessages;andstartan
encrypted‘secretconversation’.
Switchtodarkmode
Darkmodeisthe
newblackinthe
worldofapps.Even
Facebook’sdesktop
versionistestinga
nativedarkmode
(bit.ly/fbdark4 89 ),
butMessengergot
inearlywitha‘Dark
mode’toggleon
theMescreen(tap
yourprofilephoto).
Darkmodehas
severaladvantages
–whitetextona
blackbackground
meanslesseye
strainwhenreading
afterdark,andit
alsousesless
batterypower,
especiallyifyouhaveanOLEDscreen.
Go ‘Lite’tosavephone
resources
Evenindarkmode,Messengerdevours
battery,storageandmemory,butyou
candramaticallycutthebloatby
switchingtoitsnimblesisterapp,
MessengerLite(bit.ly/lite 489 ).It’s
currentlyAndroid-only(unlessyou’rein
Turkey),thoughyoucantryspoofing
yourlocationwithaVPNtogetthe
iOSversion
(bit.ly/liteios4 89 ).
MessengerLite
doesn’thaveallthe
bells and whis tles of
themain Messenger
app (nodark
mode, business
bots,secret
conversations,
filtersorgames)
butit’snot
completely
stripped-back.
As well as the
messag ingbasics,
it includesfree
videoand audio
calls, multimedia
attachments,voice
clips,‘Mark as
unread’and
customcolour s.
Createaninteractivedate
reminder
Quicklyagreethewhens,wheres,whos
andwhatsofafutureevent–without
havingtomuckaroundwithlinksto
externalcalendars–bytappingMore,
thenReminders.Whensent,the
reminderautomaticallyturnsintoa
calendar-styleinvitationcardwithan
interactiveresponsebuttonforyour
recipient–orforeveryone,ifit’sagroup
chat.Ifyou’veaddedanalarm(under
‘Moreoptions’), it’llappearasa‘sticky’
messageat
thetopof
thechat,
unlessyou
dismissit.
Like
WhatsApp,
Messenger
nowhas
aLive
Location
toolthatyou
canuseto
letsomeone
trackyou
whenyou’re
tryingto
meetup.
Oddly,
thisisn’t
integrated
into
Reminders.Instead,you’llneedtoenableLive
Locationwhenit’stimeforyour
rendezvous,bytappingLocation
underMore.Poll yourfriendsandfamily
Groupchatshaveanextraoptionunder
More:Polls(oniPhone,you’llfindthe
Pollsiconinthe‘Typeamessage’field).
Aswellasbeing
afunwayto
validateyour
opinions(ornot,
asthecasemay
be),pollsarean
efficientwayto
letmultiple
peoplerespond
toasuggestion.
Forexample,
youcouldusea
polltoagreeon
ameet-up
locationorto
decidewhatto
havefordinner
tonight.
Tostarta
groupchat,tap
thepencilicon
ontheChats/
Conversationsscreen,then‘Createa
newgroup’.TapPollsandpenyour
poser,alongwithachoiceofanswers.
Messengernowletsyousetphotosas
optionalreplies,aswellastext.Messengerissostuffedwithclever
featuresthatithardlyneeds
extensions,butitcan’tdoeverything
onitsown.Herearesomeofthebest
extratools.
•DualSpace(Android: dualspace
.com):Createtwoinstancesof
Messengerononephone,andlogin
usingseparateaccounts.
•MessengerKids(Android,iOS:
bit.ly/kids489): Officialappfor
youngsterswithtoolssuchassleep
mode.Nophonenumberis needed,
so itworksontablets.
•Unseenly(Chrome:bit.ly/
unseen 489 ,AndroidAPK:bit.ly/
undroid4 89 ): Preventpeoplefrom
seeingwhenyou’vereadtheir
messages.
•Multimessenger(Chrome:
multimessenger.cc): Manage
Messenger,WhatsApp,Instagram
andothermessagingtools inone
floatingbrowserwindow.
•Messenger online(anybrowser,
messenger.com): AccessMessengerIMPROVEFACEBOOK MESSENGERWITHADD-ONSonyourPCwithouthavingtosignin
usingFacebook.
•PinnedMessenger(Firefox:bit.ly/
pinned4 89 ): Getanalways-on
Messengertab.
•MessagesSaverforFacebook
(Windows,Chrome:chatsaver.org):
Downloadentireconversationsin
textformat.At£2.49,it’stheonly
tool inourlistthatisn’t free.MessengerLite
retains many
features, incl uding
videoattachments
Turn offthe lights
withMessenger’s
‘Darkmode’ to ggle
Avoid (ortrigger)
argumentsand make
plan seasily by polling
your frie ndsand familyCreate an interactive
invitation andreminder
with outhavingtobother
withcalendars