Facebook had voice and video calls in the past. The company removed it in 2014 and moved voice and video calls to the standalone Messenger app. Now, the company is planning to bring to back. Facebook has quietly started testing voice and video calls on its main app.
Facebook spokesperson also confirmed The Verge that the company is testing voice and video calls in the main app in several countries including the US. He didn’t share details, so we don’t know how many users are currently part of this testing.
Now when the main app will get voice and video calls, users will have to use one less app. Most people who have active friend circles on Facebook need to install messenger for communication. Not many people like to have too many similar apps. But we are forced to have Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram. The company planned to unify Messenger and Instagram but couldn’t after facing criticism.
Facebook is still testing this and a final decision will be taken after seeing results. The company considered adding Messenger back into Facebook back in 2019. It also introduced Voice and video calls to Portal and Oculus virtual reality headsets. Facebook keeps experimenting with different things to see how can it increase user engagement. When it saw users aren’t getting Messenger, it thought to add vice and video calls back to Facebook and see if users start using it on the main app.
