One of the most exciting features of Facebook Home, the social network’s new Android launcher set to hit the Google Play Store later today, is the new ‘Chat Heads’ feature, which allows all SMS and Facebook messages to manifest themselves from within a single interface. The main idea behind it, of course, is to lessen the need for you to keep flitting between Facebook Messenger and your native SMS app, and although Home is itself limited currently in how many devices it will cater to, Chat Heads has just arrived to the standalone Facebook Messenger app by means of an update. Details next.
The open sourced nature of Google’s Android software is a double-edged sword for Facebook, since although it does allow for heavy customization, the multitude of different devices available makes it very difficult for the company to adapt Home in one fell swoop. The fragmented nature of Android means many will have to wait quite a while to reap the benefits of Facebook Home to the maximum, but at least for the time being, Facebook Messenger users can get started with Chat Heads.
If you caught the original showcasing of Facebook Home for Android last week, you will probably already be familiar with the functionality of Chat Heads. But for the benefit of those who haven’t, it offers a neat, unified interface for messaging a contact either via SMS or Facebook Messenger, and no matter which medium your recipient is using, you won’t have to switch apps.
Note: Those of you looking for leaked version of Home can grab the Facebook Home APK from here. Although we will suggest waiting as the full official version will be released later today.
Chat Heads arrives to Facebook Messenger complete with circular icons showing the face of the contacts you’re messaging, and if you wish to continue roaming around your Android device, you can simply drag the Facebook Messenger app away for seamless, swift communication without the usual interruption.
Sure, it’s not the full Facebook Home experience just yet, but it’s a good start, and if you’re a Facebook Messenger for Android user, you can grab the updated version by updating via the Google Play Store app on your handset.
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