Facebook's Messenger adds masks, animated emoji to video chats

Aiming to take on its competitors, and make video chats with your friends and family in Messenger a whole lot more fun, Facebook has now added four new features animated reactions, filters, masks and effects, and the ability to take screenshots for one-on-one and group video chats.

So you can now share your emotions with a reaction, add a filter to feel like your best self, make someone laugh with a bear mask, and even take pictures of your time together.

Users can choose one of the five Messenger emoji icons to amplify their emotions and express love, laughter, surprise, sadness or anger. "These reactions will animate onto the screen and then disappear, so you can express yourself in the moment," Facebook said on Monday.

Messenger's new video filters are designed to make you look and feel like your best self or express your current mood. Users can choose from a variety of filters, ranging from subtle lighting tweaks to bold colour changes -- like black and white, red, or yellow.

Masks in Messenger have been available for a while, but they are even more fun now with a bunch of new ones to choose from. Some masks have hidden effects, like reacting to your facial movements.

"We have also added animated effects, like falling hearts and twinkling stars, to give your video chats expressive flair," said Nora Micheva, Product Manager, Messenger.

Unlike reactions, masks and effects stay on the screen for the duration of the video chat, or until you take them off or switch to another one. People like to take screenshots of their video chats and share them with friends, and Messenger video chat now has a new feature to make it happen.

Simply tap the camera icon to take a picture of your video chat to save it to your phone's camera roll and then post it to your Messenger Day or other social media accounts.