Facebook just added a neat new feature for its popular Messenger app, allowing iOS and Android users to communicate face-to-face via video calls.
The social networking giant first teamed up with Skype back in 2011 to bring video calling to desktop users. Facebook has built its own video call infrastructure in the meantime, and now it aims to challenge Skype and the likes with its own Messenger video calling feature for mobile users.
"Today, we're introducing video calling in Messenger. Now you can have face-to-face conversations with your friends and the people you care about, via Messenger," Facebook touted in a new announcement on Monday, April 27.
"You can quickly start a video call from any conversation with just one tap. If you're messaging with someone and realize that words just aren't enough, you can simply choose the video icon in the top right corner of the screen and start a video call right from within an existing Messenger conversation."
Up until now, Messenger allowed users to make voice calls to other users worldwide. The new video calling option now expands the service's real-time communication features, enabling users to communicate face-to-face.
As previously mentioned, Messenger's video calling is rolling out to both iOS and Android users, and allows users on one platform to communicate via video calls with users on the other mobile platform. This means that a Facebook Messenger user on iOS will also be able to video call a friend on Android, and vice versa.
"This is the latest feature released for Messenger, following the ability to send money to friends, the launch of Messenger Platform and the introduction of Businesses on Messenger (coming soon)," Facebook further noted.
The new video calling feature for Facebook Messenger has already started rolling out for iOS and Android users in various markets. The initial rollout includes Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Laos, Lithuania, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Poland, Portugal, the UK, the U.S., and Uruguay. Other markets and regions are set to follow in the coming months, but no specific timeframe or other details are available at this point.
In the meantime, you can learn more about the Facebook Messenger features at this link, or by watching the video below.
