Facebook Messenger no longer requires users to have a Facebook account

25 Jun 2015

Users in the US, Canada, Venezuela and Peru can now join Messenger without using Facebook credentials.

Users can now have a Facebook Messenger account without having to have a Facebook ID, the social network has revealed.

Yesterday Facebook began allowing people without a Facebook account to sign up for a Messenger account on iOS and Android.

The new ability has begun in Canada, the US, Peru and Venezuela and it is not yet clear when it will be arriving all over the world.

Requiring just a mobile phone number, the new version of Messenger will allow people who don’t have a Facebook account to still use functionality such as photos, videos, group chats, voice and video calling, stickers and more.

Users in Canada, the US, Peru and Venezuela who download the app will be able to sign up with a name, phone number and a photo.

“For those who have Facebook accounts, there are many benefits to using your Facebook credentials when signing up for Messenger,” said Louis Boval, software engineer.

“People can easily message with their Facebook friends and contacts, access their Facebook messages and take advantage of multi-device messaging across mobile devices, the web and tablets.”

The move shows increasing autonomy for the Facebook Messenger app. In April Facebook launched a standalone web version of Messenger and at the company’s F8 developer conference in March CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed a slew of new functions coming to Messenger, including the ability to conduct e-commerce and talk with merchants within Messenger.

facebook-messenger-sign-in

Facebook’s new sign-in for Messenger for users without Facebook accounts

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com