If you still have a Facebook account, then you automatically have a Messenger account. Whether you realize it or not, Messenger is one of the most popular applications in the world. (I only use it to sell all my personal stuff on the Marketplace, but it also has other features.) Here are the best features to enable for added privacy and convenience.
When you tap the profile picture in the upper left corner, the settings menu it’s coming. You can use this to turn on dark mode for those late messaging sessions. Also in this menu is “Active status”, which you can turn off so that other people can’t see if you’re online or see the last time you logged in.
Scroll down to “Privacy” and select “Delivery of the message”. This allows you to customize who can send you messages in the app – just your Facebook friends, anyone with your phone number, etc. You can then decide whether these messages come directly to your inbox as chats or as easily ignored message requests. In the “Preferences” section, select “Phone contacts” to control the data that the app retrieves from your address book.
Once you’re in a chat, click on the photo of the other participant and scroll down to “Access secret conversation.” This will display a new chat that offers end-to-end encryption and missing messages. If you simply swipe up on a regular conversation, you can activate “Disappear Mode”, which will still make the messages disappear, albeit without added encryption. Note though – Vanish mode notifies all participants if someone catches a chat.