It seems that the Facebook developers were quite busy these days, as Facebook Messenger just received a Video Calling feature. This feature has been added in only eighteen regions around the world, but hopefully, soon enough, it will be added globally.
The Facebook Messenger users will be able to call each others for free without any problems. All they need to do is to open the chat with the person they want to video chat with and tap on the “camera” button that it is located on the top side of the chat screen.
When the call is accepted by the other user, you will be able to switch between the primary and secondary cameras. However, unlike Apple’s Facetime, the other users will not need to own an Apple device. This is great, because the Facebook Messenger users that own an iOS or Android device will be able to call each others with ease. All they need to do is to make sure that they have the latest Facebook Messenger version installed or else it will surely not work.
At the same time, the Video Calling feature isn’t limited to mobile devices. The web based version of Facebook Messenger also supports the Video Calling feature and you will be using the Webcam and the microphone that are connected to your computer.
It is good to know that Facebook acquired QuickFire Networks, a company which invested a lot of resources in developing video compression tools. Facebook is most likely using the video compression technology for playing uploaded videos on their social network (such as the ones that auto-play when you are browsing the Facebook feed on your mobile device).
According to Facebook Newsroom, here is a full list of the regions that have access to the Video Calling feature on Facebook Messenger: Belgium, Denmark, Lithuania, Ireland, Mexico, Poland, Uruguay, Norway, Portugal, US, UK, Canada, Greece, Croatia, France, Nigeria, Laos and Oman.
As we told you above, in the near future, the Video Calling feature will be available for all Facebook Messenger users.
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