Facebook Messenger update includes new dedicated iPad build

Facebook has unveiled Facebook Messenger 7.0 for iOS and Android, a major new version of its dedicated messaging app for Facebook users.

Version 7.0 is notable for being the first version to include a native iPad build, coming three years after Facebook originally acquired the app’s forerunner, Beluga. The app also includes improvements to its video functions.

Facebook Messenger 7.0’s iPad build debuts a two-pane window design, with the left-hand pane allowing users to switch between recent conversations, groups, people and settings, where users can toggle notifications on and off, sync contacts and switch accounts if necessary.

The right-hand pane contains the currently selected conversation, where users will find the vast majority of features in the iPhone and Android versions are present, including stickers, group chat management and VoIP calling along with the ability to record audio messages.

Features not yet implemented from the iPhone build include tap-and-hold video recordings and the split-screen selfie camera.

Version 7.0 also now adds support for users to save any video shot in Messenger to their camera roll on both iOS and Android platforms, and rounds out the update with a number of unspecified fixes that promise better reliability.

Facebook Messenger 7.0 is available now for iPhone, iPad and Android. The Android version remains non-optimized for tablets for now.