Facebook is set to begin requiring people to sign up for an account even if they merely desire to use its standalone Messenger app, reported the Independent.
For years, the company has enabled people to sign up utilising simply their mobile number, compiling their account separate in the chat app.
It did so in 2015 to allow people to use the popular Messenger app for those who did not want to be part of the larger Facebook platform.
That echoes the elaborate system in WhatsApp, which is rightfully owned by Facebook but uses people‘s mobile number to login rather than any connection with the more controversial main site.But now Facebook will require anyone who signs up to use Messenger to get a Facebook account first.
It comes as the company seems to unite its chat apps, enabling people to talk across the various platforms and sharing infrastructure between Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram.
Writing on Facebook Help Centre, the company now says: “You’ll need to create a Facebook account to use Messenger.”
According to a spokesman for the firm, those previously using Messenger without a Facebook account will be unimpacted.
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