Note: Before diving into the tips and tricks, please make sure you have the latest version of Messenger installed on your smartphone. If not, then update it from the App Store or Play Store.
1. Soundmojis
If you ever wanted emojis to be more expressive, then consider this wish granted. With the introduction of Soundmojis, now you can be more expressive than just a normal emoji. Whenever you send a Soundmoji on Messenger, it plays a unique sound paired with that emoji. To access Soundmojis, open a chat in Messenger then tap on the emojis icon near the text field. After this, tap on the 5th icon which is the Soundmojis icon. You can also swipe up the Soundmojis selection page and play each Soundmoji before sending them in the chat. Fun Fact: Many Soundmojis are paired with different pop song lyrics and movie dialogues. And my personal favorite is when you press ❌, it will start playing the Capone – Oh No meme song.
2. Watch Together
Just like Apple SharePlay, Messenger has its own feature called Watch Together. And the title says it all — it allows you to watch videos with someone together online. This feature is available on Messenger only while you are on a call, doesn’t matter whether it’s a video call or an audio one. To use Watch Together, call someone on Messenger. Then swipe up on the call page to open more options. Tap on Watch Together. And it will open a list of videos available on Facebook for you to watch, well, together. Choose a video and tap on it to play, and it will start playing in a window on the call. And the video will be visible to both, you and your friend.
3. Word Effects
Word Effects are a fun way to send a message. It allows you to emphasize an emoji while conveying a message to the other person. iOS users can say this is a rip-off of iMessage’s message effect, but this is still cool and expressive and is cross-platform, unlike iMessage. To use Word Effects, you need to first set a trigger word or a line. Let’s have a look at how to do this.
- Open a chat in Messenger, and tap on the “i” button in the top right corner. Tap on Word Effects.
- On the bottom of the screen, select an emoji and type a trigger word or line for it and press send. It will be saved as a word effect in “Your effects”.
- Go back to chat now. And type the same trigger word or line and press send. You’ll see the linked emoji popping everywhere on the screen as the message is sent to the recipient. And the other person will also be able to see this word effect on his end.
4. Browse Instagram Posts Together
Since Meta (Facebook) owns Instagram, they keep introducing features that complement and integrate both of these platforms. They recently launched a feature in Messenger calls, where you can browse Instagram posts together with the person on call. You can get their live reaction on the call itself, rather than seeing emoji reactions. To browse Instagram together, you need to first link your Facebook and Instagram id together at Facebook Accounts Center. After that call a friend on Messenger and swipe up while you’re on call to expand more options. Tap on Instagram posts and Instagram will open in front of you. There will be three sections Liked Posts, Saved Posts, and Explore. You can choose any section and tap on any post to watch together with your friend on call. Note: Once you tap and open a post, it will be only visible to the other person. They can’t see your liked, saved, and explore sections.
5. Share Screen
Moving on, if you wish to share more, Messenger also allows you to share your screen while on a call. You can use this to show a presentation or videos/images on your phone, for example. To share your screen on Facebook Messenger, call a friend on Messenger and swipe up to expand more options. Tap on Share your screen. Your phone might ask for your consent before screen sharing, allow it and you’re good to go. After that minimize the call and navigate to whatever you want to share with your friend or family or colleague.
6. Play Mini Games Together
If you don’t want to share your screen, you might wanna do some fun gaming on call. If yes, then luckily Messenger has some mini-games for you too. To access these mini-games, call someone, and then swipe up to expand more options. Tap on Play Together. A list of all the available mini-games will open in front of you, choose a game and tap on it to play with your friend remotely.
7. Message Silently in Group Chat
Messenger group chats can be fun. But, there have been times when we want to drop a message silently at night without notifying (waking up) someone. Just like leaving a note at night and waiting for it to be found in the morning. If you always wanted to do so, here’s a quick hack for you. Before typing any message, just add /Silent and then add text and press send. The message will be sent and no one will be notified, but the group recipients will be able to see the message when they open the group chat. Pro Tip: If you want just the opposite effect of /Silent, use “@Everyone” before typing a text message, and then press send. Everyone in the group will be notified.
8. Bumping a Message
If you have ever been asked to reply to your own sent messages from earlier chat, worry no more. Now you don’t need to reply to your old messages anymore, in order to highlight them. Just scroll to your old message and long-press on it until you see message options at the bottom of the screen. Tap on More, then tap on Bump. This will send the message again in the chat, with a small tag on it saying “you bumped your message”. And the recipient will be notified about the bumped message and they will be able to see that in the chat itself.
9. Send a Boomerang
Boomerangs are fun, right? So why not use them creatively in Messenger? To send a Boomerang on Messenger, open a chat and tap on the camera icon near the text field. Swipe left on the bottom side of the screen, until it says Boomerang. Point your camera and press the Boomerang icon to record, and then press send.
10. Add a Nickname
If your messenger chats are filled with multiple contacts with the same name, then you would like to assign nicknames to some of them. Adding a nickname can be fun and it will be helpful in sorting chats also. To do so, open the chat of the person to whom you want to give a nickname. Tap on the “i” button on the top right corner of the screen. Tap on Nicknames. Note: When you set a nickname in Messenger, it notifies the other person immediately in the chat as an update and it pings their cellphone as a notification also.
It will ask you to set a nickname for yourself and the other person as well. Choose the other person and tap on Set Nickname, type a name, and tap on Set. And you’ll see the updated nickname in the chat list in Messenger.
11. Send Stickers and GIFs
Stickers and GIFs have become a kind of necessity while chatting with someone. Whenever emojis and words fall short, Stickers and GIFs come as a savior. To access Stickers, open a chat, then tap on the emoji icon in the text field. Then tap on the Stickers icon. Then search for relevant stickers from there and tap on one to send it in the chat. To access GIFs, again tap on the emoji icon in the text field of chat like you did before. Then tap on the GIFs icon and from there you can search and browse GIFs. Once you’re happy with a GIF, tap on it to send it in the chat.
Don’t Kill the Messenger
Meta keeps updating Messenger to provide a better messaging experience to its users. Some cool Messenger features are Soundmojis, Word Effects, Silent Message, Bumping a message, browsing Instagram together, and Sharing your screen. Use these Facebook Messenger tips and tricks to surprise your friends during chats. And here’s one more secret tip for you on how to block/unblock someone on Facebook and Messenger without opening Facebook.
