Facebook Messenger Redesign Brings Simpler Layout, Adds ‘Dark Mode’

Facebook Messenger is getting a redesign that simplifies the app, reduces the clutter, and introduces a brand-new “dark mode.”

Earlier this year, Facebook admitted that its Messenger service had become too cluttered and that the company would roll out some changes this year to make the messaging app simpler to use.

In its current state, the Messenger app is filled with many unnecessary features, such as the games tab at the bottom right of the app. In total, Messenger has a total of five tabs at the bottom of the screen – Home, Call, Camera, Contacts, and Games. All of this makes Messenger way too bloated and difficult to make sense of.

This week, Facebook announced its first step towards doing that by giving Messenger a major design overhaul. During Facebook’s F8 2018 annual developer conference, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the Messenger revamp will make the service clean and fast again.

“When you’re messaging, you really want a simple and fast experience,” Zuckerberg stated during his company’s F8 keynote. “We’re taking this moment to completely redesign Messenger to focus on these ideas.”

The new interface — which was only shown off on its iOS variant — looks a lot more streamlined than the current version. While it maintains most features like the heavily criticized Messenger Day, it supposedly organizes features better. The app’s interface has been simplified to 3 tabs, and the actual chat screen has been uncluttered and cleaner. Facebook Messenger now looks a lot more like a simple chat application without sacrificing much functionality.

The social media giant will also bring a “Dark Mode” that will turn the background of the app dark, similar to a feature on Twitter. This will look even better on phones with OLED displays as the black will be really black, not to mention saving some battery life as well. Additionally, chat bubbles are going to be more colourful.

These are some of the changes expected to arrive in the next few weeks and should definitely simplify the app a lot more, although Facebook still has a long way to go.