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Facebook Messenger now lets you send SMS text messages from Android smartphones

Facebook Messenger lost the ability to send SMS messages back in 2013, but now the functionality is back with a vengeance.

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Published onJune 14, 2016

Remember when you used to be able to send SMS text messages with the Facebook messenger app, but then it mysteriously vanished never to be heard from again? Well, it looks like Facebook is hellbent on continuing to play games with our hearts, because the social giant has returned SMS support to Messenger on Android devices. But alas, will it remain?

Probably, is the answer to that question. David Marcus, the VP of Messaging Products at Facebook, says that this SMS integration is pretty robust, allowing you to send voice clips, stickers, and your location in just a few brushes of the fingertip. This all plays into Facebook’s clear intentions to make this app your one-stop-shop for all means of textual communication. With the company looking to monetize the app by bringing in ads, it’s no surprise that Facebook is doing all they can to get users on their chatty platform – even going so far as eliminating the mobile browser version of Messenger to make downloading the app a necessity.

Facebook Messenger is getting ads

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Overall, it’s good to have SMS functionality back on Messenger. It went away in 2013, and we missed it then, but when some users began reporting that they were able to start texting away earlier this year, we realized that Facebook was probably testing for this very update.

Click the button below to grab the latest version of the app from the Google Play Store. Then hit the comments and let us know what you think of Facebook Messenger regaining the ability to serve as your go-to text messaging application.