Facebook is integrating Messenger features with its mobile Facebook app, potentially reducing the need to have Messenger installed.

Until now, users have needed to have Messenger installed on their mobile devices to chat with their Facebook friends and family. The company is looking to unify the experience, incorporating some of Messenger’s functionality within the core Facebook app.

Tom Alison, Head of Facebook, made the announcement in a blog post:

We’re also seeing more people turning to messaging as a way to build community. We started introducing community chats to some Facebook Groups last year as a way for people to connect more deeply with their online communities in real time around the topics they care about. And, the early results are promising. Across Facebook and Messenger, we saw the number of people trying community chats increase by 50% in December 2022.

Over the coming year, we’ll build more ways to integrate messaging features in Facebook. Ultimately, we want it to be easy and convenient for people to connect and share, whether in the Messenger app or directly within Facebook.

The news will likely be welcome by most users, especially if it saves the trouble of switching back and forth between apps.