Back in the early part of September this year, Apple had revealed that Facebook Messenger was on its way to the Apple Watch, the tech giant’s one and only wearable device to date. That is, if that particular Apple Watch has been already updated to watchOS 2. Well now, Apple has made good on that promise, announcing that the Facebook Messenger has now officially arrived on the Apple smartwatch.
What this means, of course, for owners of perhaps the most widely known wearable device in the planet right now is that they can proceed to sharing stuff like voice clips, likes, and stickers from their own wrists. The Apple Watch has not gotten to that level of supplanting the iPhone yet, but the little interactions it allows mobile users is a big part of what makes it cool.
And Facebook Messenger sounds like a good fit for what the Apple Watch is capable of. We all want to interact with friends and family, and Facebook’s chat messaging platform has become of the most popular tools for doing so. Add the fact that Facebook Messenger has evolved into something that is definitely more than just a simple chat messaging tool, it has become more useful than ever for people who want to socialize with other people. And now that it has arrived on one of the Apple’s newest toys, mobile users everywhere, especially those who already own the Apple Watch, have more reason to use their Apple smartwatches.
Apple first made the announcement of Facebook Messenger coming to its Apple Watch during its “Hey, Siri” event in September earlier this year. At that event, the iPhone maker also took the opportunity to reveal more details of watchOS 2, which was in beta at that time. Apple’s watchOS 2 is considered to be a significant improvement over its predecessor version, offering various apps that run native on the Apple Watch, featuring new watch faces and third party features, and highlighting public Transit in Maps, as well as new flagship apps for Apple’s smartwatch, which include GoPro and iTranslate, plus a health care provider app called AirStrip.
But not one of these apps generated more buzz than Facebook Messenger. It is currently considered the largest messaging app outside of SMS, with 700 million monthly users around the world. Apart from giving another compelling reason for existing Apple Watch users to actually make use of their smartwatches, Facebook Messenger may also actually encourage other mobile users to purchase Apple’s sole wearable device (so far).
When the Apple Watch was launched in April earlier this year, Facebook did not release any app for the wearable device, which many may find surprising on hindsight. But it did make some sense -- after all, it would be really odd and inappropriate for Facebook to try to get News Feed on the Apple Watch whose tiny screen can only display a limited amount of information. Looking back now, Facebook Messenger seems like the ideal way for Facebook to make its presence known on Apple’s smartwatch. As for the delay, perhaps Facebook was just waiting for the opportune moment (that is, the release of the much improved watchOS 2) to arrive on the Apple Watch.
