Facebook has started rolling out a new update for its messenger app that will see it adhere to Google’s Material Design guidelines. Some users in some countries already have had this update for a while but this was a controlled roll out meant for testing purposes.
The updated version of Facebook Messenger will be added to the play store anytime from today. This is the first version that adheres to Google’s Material Design guidelines and comes almost two years after the new guidelines were introduced. It even gets the Material Design treatment before the official Facebook app.
Over the past few months, developers over at Facebook have been testing different Material Design elements to see how they can be included in the official Messenger app. Most of these features have been spotted in the beta versions of the app that have been around for a few months. These gave us a clue on what to expect.
Since the update has just started rolling out, it will take a few days or even weeks before every user gets it. As of writing this post, I still don’t have the update but I will keep checking on that and inform you when I finally have it.
A statement from Facebook Messenger’s David Marcus reads, “If you’re using Messenger on Android, you’ve been wanting a brand new material design for a bit. Any major redesign of an essential app used by hundreds of millions of people around the world is painstakingly hard, and that’s why we took every precaution to ensure you’d truly enjoy this evolution. This brand new design will be rolling out later today! As always, give it a try.”
I will definitely be giving this a try when I get it on my phone.
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on it.