Messenger

The app is free, rated Everyone, and Google Play shows no ads, though it does include in-app purchases. The package ID is com.facebook.orca, which is worth checking on the store page so you install the right app.

The first useful step is finding your contacts. Messenger links to people on Facebook and Messenger, so existing friends and family can be reached without exchanging phone numbers. For people you meet in person, the app generates a QR code. You can scan theirs or share yours as a link.

After that, look at the chat settings. Disappearing messages apply to end-to-end encrypted chats, and you choose how long a chat stays after it has been read. Themes let you change the look of a conversation, and the store text describes a large, changing list that includes artists and holidays.

Several features address small daily annoyances. A sent message can be edited for up to 15 minutes, which covers the typo you notice right after pressing send. Documents such as Word, PDF and Excel files can go straight into a chat at up to 100MB each.

Photos can be sent in high definition, and groups can build shared albums of photos and videos. The store text gives a vacation and a family birthday as examples. That makes a group chat a place to keep material, not only talk.

Messenger also reaches beyond one-to-one conversation. Communities group people by school, neighborhood or interest, and creators can run broadcast channels. Stories and notes both disappear after 24 hours. Animated stickers, GIFs and reactions handle the lighter side of chatting.

Meta AI is included as an assistant for questions, advice, homework help and image creation or editing. The store notes it is available only in select languages and countries, so it may not appear for every user.

Messenger is tied to Facebook, so it suits people whose contacts already live there. If your friends use phone-number-based messaging, WhatsApp is the closer alternative. Facebook itself covers the wider social network side if you want feeds and groups.

The feature set is broad, and that can be a drawback. Someone who wants only plain text and calls may find the AI tools, channels, communities and Stories more than they need.

For photo storage, Google Photos is an alternative. Shared albums in Messenger work inside chats, while a dedicated photo app is a separate kind of tool.

Messenger comes from Meta Platforms, Inc. and carries an Everyone content rating. It runs without ads, though in-app purchases are offered. You can connect with friends and family through Facebook without a phone number, so check the permissions and privacy details on its store page before you set up an account.