Meta has quietly introduced a huge change to its integrated SMS capability on Facebook Messenger, which will see a key feature being removed after more than seven years. 
Facebook is set to scrap a key functionality in Messenger next month that allows select users to send SMS texts through the app.
Meta confirmed it will move to ditch its Dual Messenger function currently enabled on Android devices starting September 28, in a quiet announcement on Facebook’s Help Center page.
The unique feature fitted on Galaxy phones lets users run two separate accounts through the one app, wherein standard text messages on the mobile number attached to the phone integrate with online chats on the Facebook account logged in to.
This means Messenger overrides the default messaging app of the device and eliminates the need to operate multiple platforms.
But Meta said the change would not hamper activity through the mobile network as users would just need to switch to their phone’s inbuilt text applications.
“If you use Messenger as your default SMS messaging app for your Android device, please note you will no longer be able to use Messenger to send and receive SMS messages sent by your cellular network when you update your app after September 28,” the company said.
“You will still be able to send and receive SMS messages through your cellular network and access your SMS message history through your phone’s new default messaging app.
“If you do not choose your own new default messaging app, your SMS messaging will automatically go to your phone’s default messaging app, such as the Android Messages app.”
The incorporated feature was introduced into Facebook Messenger in 2016, three years after being withdrawn following a year-long run from 2012 to 2013.
The tech giant’s decision to retract its key SMS functionality comes amid a trend of declining preferences for third-party messaging applications across the globe.
Facebook Messenger as a whole however, has seen solid growth as of late, with the company announcing in January it was strengthening the platform by launching end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) chat capabilities.
Through this additional level of security, communication between two private parties on messages is guaranteed safe from interference of other third-party apps and limits the chances of confidential data being leaked.
“Over the next few months, more people will continue to see some of their chats gradually being upgraded with an extra layer of protection provided by end-to-end encryption,” Meta said at the time. 
“We will notify people in these individual chat threads as they are upgraded.”
With the Dual Messaging changes coming in September, users are urged to pre-emptively seek another mode of communication before the text service is cut off.
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