Facebook Testing Merged Notifications With Messenger, Instagram

Facebook is planning to further merge its family apps closer together. It’s been discovered recently that the company is testing a feature that bundles the notifications for Facebook, Messenger and Instagram under the main Facebook app.

The new feature was first discovered by social media analyst Mari Smith. She shared a screenshot of the Facebook iOS app showing a notifications window for both Messenger and Instagram. Smith says that she was able to access the new menu bar by tapping on her Facebook profile icon on the upper right-hand side of the app. This is where the Messenger icon is located on the current version of the Facebook app.

Opening the unified notification window will let users see their accounts for Facebook, Messenger and Instagram. The circular red icons with numbers denote unread notifications. Tapping on one of the accounts will open the corresponding app.

The existence of the new feature has already been confirmed by Facebook. “We are conducting a very small test to make it easier for people to discover and connect with the people and things they care about,” a representative told TechCrunch. “We’re exploring ways to help people switch more easily between their Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram accounts.”

Facebook’s “very small test” might indicate that the feature is only available to select iOS users at this time which is typically part of the company’s A/B testing protocol. TechCrunch also says that the new feature is popping up on the top corners of the Messenger and Instagram apps as well.

WhatsApp, which was acquired by Facebook in 2014, isn’t bundled with the trio’s merged notifications yet, but it certainly is possible that the final version of this feature might include that as well. WhatsApp has 1.2 billion monthly active users worldwide, an achievement that Facebook’s Messenger was only able to match just last month.

It would be disappointing if WhatsApp isn’t included in this new pop-over cross-app switcher. It’s possible that Facebook might only want its Messenger platform to be the only instant messaging app that’s part of the new feature, possibly to further grow the app’s user base.

The new merged notifications for Facebook’s three core apps will make it easier for people to switch between their accounts. It eliminates the need to close one app to open another when a notification pops up.

Facebook also applied the feature cleverly by having it readily available right on the user’s News Feed. This seems like another part of the company’s strategy to ensure that users never leave their Facebook feed.

This might be a simple, albeit useful, ploy to boost user engagement. Seeing the notifications from the trio of apps will most likely compel users to open them to see all their likes, comments and messages. After all, there are plenty of users who feel the need to get rid of all of their notifications as soon as possible just so they can remove those pesky red badges on the app icons.