Like it or not, Facebook Messenger can be inevitable, especially if your friends and family have set the app as their main messaging service. I know people who have reserved Facebook accounts only to continue using Messenger. But even if you are all involved with Facebook without any credentials, there are a few Messenger features to discover to get the most out of the service while also protecting your privacy.
If you don’t want people to see you online – and how long it has been since you last logged in – just tap on your profile picture at the top left of the Messenger app and select Active Status to turn it off. These profile options are also where you can activate it Dark mode, which will relax your eyes while you chat.
From Settings, you can customize who is allowed to send you a message. Tap on it Privacy and then Message Delivery to let all your Facebook friends send you a message, just friends who have your phone number, etc. Fo Options, select Call and turn off Messenger’s ability to drag everyone into your phone’s address book. This prevents Facebook from receiving data about people who may not want the company to know about them, and is also generally good practice.
If you want to make Messenger even more private, you can implement end-to-end encryption and disappearing messages by tapping on a contact’s name in a dialog and selecting Turn on Secret Conversations. Swiping up allows chat Vanish method not circulating your messages but causing them to disappear when you leave the conversation. You will still be notified if your contact captures messages while in Vanish Mode (or vice versa), so if you have to say: Do not use it for emergencies.