To keep your video chats going, Facebook Messenger has added 4 new features.
During a video chat on Messenger, you can now add:
- Animated Reactions
- Masks and Related Effects
- Filters
- Screenshots
Starting June 26, these features will be available worldwide.
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Reactions
The animated reactions feature allows you to express five emotions through emojis in real time:
- love
- laughter
- surprise
- sadness
- anger
Once you react with a laughing emoji, it will last a few seconds and then disappear.
To access these features, just tap on one of the five emojis at the bottom of the screen. The selected reaction immediately animates onto the screen.
Nora Micheva, a Product Manager at Facebook, explains, “To keep the fun alive, most reactions have different versions depending on whether your face is on or off the screen.”
Before this new rollout, Facebook had introduced reactions to Messenger, though they were limited to individual chats. Now they also apply to group chats.
Masks
Messenger has also added a range of masks and animated effects to choose from. While masks have been available for some time, more have been added, including those with effects that react to bodily and facial movements.
For instance, opening your mouth when wearing a rabbit mask will expose a hidden tongue effect.
Filters
From lightning tweaks to stylized color changes, Messenger has made sure to add real-time filtering. Worried that the washout will make you look weird? Messenger allows you to preview the filters before posting.
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Screenshots
The fourth feature allows you to capture and share screenshots during a video chat. The camera button at the bottom of the screen will let you to save pictures/screenshots of your chat to the camera roll.
Considering that popular services like FaceTime haven’t implemented these features yet, Messenger might capture a generation of video chatters over on their service.