Facebook Messenger now supports multiple accounts, but only for Android devices
Facebook has officially launched the multiple account support for its Messenger, which it had been testing for a while now with beta users and some non-beta users. This feature would allow multiple people to log in and use Messenger from a single device.
According to Facebook’s post, messages will remain private amongst accounts, so you can use and pass someone else your phone and need not worry about them reading your messages. “The beauty of this new feature is that your messages stay completely private. Anyone else who shares the device will just see the number of notifications of messages that you have, but they will never be able to see the content of your messages.”
Facebook wants families to be able to potentially be able to use Facebook Messenger while sharing the same device. This is how the new feature can be activated in Facebook:
– In the Messenger for Android settings, look for a section called ‘Accounts’.
– Add the accounts related to each person – signing up with Messenger. You are not required to be logged in Facebook for this.
– The first time someone switches from another account on a phone to their account, it will require a password. After this, the user can choose whether to require a password each time they access their account, or leave it open for anyone to access.
While users can see notifications for new messages and unread counts for all accounts on their shared device, the actual contents of an account’s messages will only be visible if you switch to that account. However, if you want to stop sharing a phone, you need to simply remove your account from that particular device. If accounts are password protected, the number of new messages they have will show up in-app.
Currently, the feature will be available only for the Android version of Messenger. However, there’s no word on when the feature will roll out to iOS users or the Web versions of Messenger. Unfortunately, till then they will have to keep signing in and out if they want to use multiple accounts.
