Facebook testing to add voice and video calls to its main app

Facebook is testing adding voice and video calls to the main Facebook app, Bloomberg reports. The features are currently part of the standalone Messenger app, which Facebook originally developed from its big blue main app in 2011 and was officially phased out in 2014.

Voice and video calls are two of several Messenger features that Facebook has introduced into its other products, such as Portal video cameras and Oculus virtual reality headsets. The company hasn't shared whether it plans to bring other parts of Messenger back into the fold, but Messenger's director of product management told Bloomberg that "you'll start to see a little more of this over time."

Facebook confirmed to The Verge that it is testing voice and video calls in "several countries, including the US." The company did not share how many users will see the features or what this means for the standalone Messenger app in the future other than "for a full-featured messaging, audio and video call experience, people should continue using Messenger."

Adding voice and video calls to the Facebook app makes as much sense as spinning off Messenger in the first place. Yes, it means there is one less app to switch to while doing other things on your computer or phone, but it also means that you'll have to interact with (or at least view) Facebook on the go, something I'm not sure about everyone is interested in doing it.

There is also the risk that the integration of Messenger on Facebook will generate the same type of criticism as the unification of direct messages from Messenger and Instagram. It seems like it makes a giant company like Facebook even harder to crack, which may be the point.

This isn't the first suggestion that Facebook was considering bringing Messenger back to Facebook. In 2019, the company tested text chats back to the main app with a dedicated inbox and splashed "from Facebook" through Oculus, Instagram, and WhatsApp.