Meta aka Facebook has updated its Messenger Kids app with a handful of new features. Most notably, the kid-focused messaging app is getting dark mode support. Yes, the company took quite a while to add the feature but it’s finally here.
Facebook says people were “over the moon” when it introduced dark mode to the full-fledged Messenger app back in March 2019. While that should have prompted the company to quickly expand support to its other apps as well, it somehow took the social network giant more than two years to extend this generosity to Messenger Kids. The feature is still limited to iOS and not available on Android though. Facebook says it’s coming to Android but doesn’t provide a timeframe.
Anyways, Messenger Kids users will be able to turn on dark mode from the in-app settings. You can keep dark mode always on, always off, or set it to follow your device’s systemwide settings.
Additionally, Messenger Kids is soon getting a bunch of voice effects that you can apply to voice messages. There are five different effects to choose from: robot, ghost, gorilla or mouse, or sound like you’re talking into a seashell. You can apply these effects after you have recorded a voice clip from within the app by tapping the microphone icon. Facebook says you can try out all the voice effects before sending the message away. This feature will roll out to users in the coming weeks but, unfortunately, the Android version of the app will be missing out initially.
Messenger Kids now lets you quickly start games while chatting
Messenger Kids is an app for young users who love to have fun in every situation. So Facebook is letting them enjoy messaging with some fun games that can be played while having a conversation. There are both single-player games such as Grow Your Pet as well as two-player games like chess, tic-tac-toe, and Daily Doodle. However, two-player games require you to leave the chat thread and go to the Explore tab.
Thankfully, Facebook is now making it all easier. The company will not let users start two-player games from within the chat threads. A new, orange “Play” tab in the bottom right corner of the chat screen will let you select a game to play. As you might expect, Facebook is limiting this feature to iOS devices at launch. The company doesn’t tell when the Messenger Kids Android app will receive it. Hopefully, sooner than later.
2021-12-07 15:08:02