Messenger is an app for having chats and calls presented by Facebook. It was initially released in 2011 and has received dozens of major updates since. It has more than a billion downloads in Google Play with an average rating of 4.2.

Design, Navigation, and Usability: Great Chats

The app is designed in a way that allows to make messaging simple. There are only two main sections of the app, which are Chats and People. The interface manages to fit a variety of features and makes them comfortable to use, thanks to the proper structure of menus. On the chat screen, you will see the list of conversations with the names of your mates and their avatars. On the top side of that section will be the stories of your mates and the search tool. There is also the button for your profile, option to edit it, and change your avatar in that section.

Features: Chatty Messenger

Messenger offers a variety of communicating features. With this app, you can have chats, where you can share photos, files, and other kinds of content, make group video calls with up to 50 people, post and watch stories, send voice and video messages, send stickers and have group chats. As for the additional features, the app also allows you to securely send money, share geolocation, and send SMS messages. The best thing is that there are versions for Android, iOS, and desktop with full cross-platform use, allowing you to comfortably communicate with friends from other platforms. The app is completely free to use with no limits: you only have to pay for the Internet data consumed in the process. There are no premium versions, and every built-in feature is available with no purchases required. The app is highly compatible, and its performance is great as well: Facebook has managed to reach almost perfect optimization, except for several bugs.

Security: Not So Safe

Security is probably the weakest point of Messenger. The messages are not end-to-end encrypted unless you are using the secret chats feature. These are the self-destructing chats, which help to achieve privacy. The app has also been part of some data harvesting controversies as it requires more permissions than the regular Facebook app and gathers much more data. Messenger is not the only app harvesting lots of user data, but if you are looking for an app with good security, we might suggest checking out WhatsApp, Telegram, or Viber.