If you still have a Facebook account, you will automatically have a Messenger account. Whether you realize it or not, Messenger is one of the most popular apps in the world. (I only use it to sell all my personal belongings on the Marketplace, but it has other functions.) These are the best features to activate for privacy and convenience.
When you tap your profile picture in the upper left corner, the settings menu arises. You can use this to activate dark mode, for those late night messaging sessions. Also in this menu is the “Active Status”, which you can disable so other people cannot see if you are online, or see when you were last logged in.
Scroll down to “Privacy” and select “Message Delivery.” This allows you to customize who can message you in the app: just your Facebook friends, anyone with your phone number, etc. You can then decide whether these messages arrive directly into your inbox as chats or as easy-to-ignore message requests. In the “Preferences” section, select “Phone contacts” to control the data that the application extracts from your address book.
When in a chat, click on the other participant’s photo and scroll down to “Go to Secret Conversation.” This will open a new chat that offers end-to-end encryption and disappearing messages. If you just swipe up in a normal conversation, you can enable “Disappear Mode”, which will make your messages disappear, albeit without the added encryption. Please note, however: Vanish mode notifies all participants if someone takes a screenshot of a chat.
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