The standalone apps support using multiple accounts, conversations with end-to-end encryption, and playing games.

[20][21] An app for Windows Phone, though lacking features including voice messaging and chat heads, was released in March 2014.

The app is aimed primarily at old Android phones and regions where high-speed Internet is not widely available.

[32][33] In May 2017, Facebook revamped the design for Messenger on Android and iOS, bringing a new home screen with tabs and categorization of content and interactive media, red dots indicating new activity, and relocated sections.

News publisher bots "message subscribers directly with news and other information",[97][98] while ride-sharing apps can offer a transportation option, hotel chains can answer questions about accommodations, and air travel companies can allow for check-ins, flight updates and travel changes.

Users can add 360° virtual backgrounds, mood lighting, and other AR effects as well as share screens.

[147][148] Facebook told TechCrunch that the advertisements' placement in the inbox depends on factors such as thread count, phone screen size, and pixel density.

[149] In a TechCrunch editorial by Devin Coldewey, he described the ads as "huge" in the space they occupy, "intolerable" in the way they appear in the user interface, and "irrelevant" due to the lack of context.

Coldewey finished by writing "Advertising is how things get paid for on the internet, including TechCrunch, so I'm not an advocate of eliminating it or blocking it altogether.

But bad advertising experiences can spoil a perfectly good app like (for the purposes of argument) Messenger.

"[150] In November 2014, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) listed Messenger (Facebook chat) on its Secure Messaging Scorecard.

It received points for having communications encrypted in transit and for having recently completed an independent security audit.

It missed points because the communications were not encrypted with keys the provider didn't have access to, users could not verify contacts' identities, past messages were not secure if the encryption keys were stolen, the source code was not open to independent review, and the security design was not properly documented.

Instead, users can choose between different availability statuses, including "Appear as inactive", "Switch accounts", and "Turn off notifications".

[154] Media outlets have reported on a workaround, by pressing a "Clear data" option in the application's menu in Settings on Android devices, which returns the user to the log-in screen.

[163]: 1  In November 2018, the ACLU and EFF filed suit to have the case unsealed so that the public can be informed about the encryption/surveillance debate.