The Meta-owned messaging app WhatsApp has joined the growing legions of apps and services to support passkeys.

Initially available to Android users, the passwordless authentication feature makes it possible to secure a WhatsApp account with face recognition, a fingerprint or a PIN. It is a security feature that is billed as not only offering greater protection than passwords, but also being faster to use.

After a period of experimentation, Meta has finally decided to permit users to create multiple Facebook profiles. Each profile -- and you can have up to four -- can have its own connections, and will have its own customized Feed.

Meta suggests that Facebook users could use the new option to keep personal and professional relationships separate, but there are many reasons for wanting to maintain more than one Facebook profile. But while the change to allow multiple profiles is a big one, there are limitations and some things are not changing.

Meta has launched what it describes as a "refreshed identity system for Facebook". This way of referring to a new logo should prepare you for an avalanche of further flowery language, and in this regard Facebook does not disappoint.

What is the purpose of the logo redesign? Meta says it has "a focus on fostering effortless, self-initiated exploration and connection across every touchpoint". The new logo is described as being "bolder, electric and everlasting", but it has already been the subject of some ridicule just hours after launch.

Continuing its expansions in to shopping and eCommerce, Meta has announced WhatsApp Flows. The new feature allows businesses to give customers the chance to do things like book tickets and order items from within a chat.

Flows can be customized by merchants to meet the specific needs of a business, creating workflow-like purchasing experiences for customers. Launching globally over the coming weeks, WhatsApp has been testing Flows with partners in Brazil and India.

WhatsApp not only remains astoundingly popular, developers continue to refine existing features and add new capabilities at an astonishing rate. The latest beta version of the messaging app shows exciting signs that it may soon be possible to use WhatsApp to send and receive messages between other platforms.

This is an important -- and much-requested -- development because while WhatsApp has a colossal userbase, it is not yet ubiquitous. The fact remains that not everyone you may want to chat with is necessarily a WhatsApp user. In the future, this should not be a problem with the arrival of support for third-party chats.

For anyone with an older, cheaper and less powerful Android device, the Lite version of Messenger has been something of a lifeline. The stripped-back, resource-light version of its big sibling was specifically designed to run well on lesser hardware, but now Meta has decided to kill it off.

Messenger Lite, once known as Facebook Messenger Lite, has been around for a number of years, but Meta is giving users just a few weeks' notice about the app being discontinued. The closure comes despite the app having millions of users.

Security is vital for digital communication, and that's why the likes of Telegram and WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption (E2EE) is so important and popular. Meta has long been keen to expand this security feature to its various other messaging platforms, and now the Facebook-owner has announced that it is implementing E2EE for all Messenger users.

The company points out that this is currently a test phase, so while more and more people will see immediate security enhancements, the rollout will not be complete until the end of the year.

In the winter of 2004, a Harvard sophomore named Mark Zuckerberg created a website that would revolutionize the way we communicate and share information. This website, known as Facebook, was initially a small project intended for Harvard students only. But it quickly grew into a global social networking phenomenon, connecting billions of people worldwide.

Zuckerberg was a computer science student with a knack for creating innovative web applications. His first notable creation was a program called CourseMatch, which allowed students to select classes based on the choices of other students. This was followed by Facemash, a website that allowed users to rank the attractiveness of their fellow students. Despite being shut down by Harvard administration due to privacy concerns, Facemash gave Zuckerberg the idea for a social networking site that would eventually become Facebook.

Although WhatsApp leads the way in many regards, there are plenty of areas in which it is lagging behind. The text formatting options in the message app are incredibly limited, for instance, but this is about to change.

The Meta-owned app is finally being given more formatting tools. The update means that WhatsApp users will no longer be limited to using bold, italics and strikethrough, and the need to find workarounds for the lack of common formatting options will soon be eliminated.

Increased use of the metaverse and other immersive spaces using VR, AR and digital avatars, is going to change how businesses communicate with their customers.

In an increasingly globalized world part of the issue is how real time experience will cope with the use of different languages. This is expected to put real pressure on automated and machine translation services to deliver fast, accurate results.

There are many ways to use Meta's WhatsApp. From typing text-based messages through sending photos, to full-on video chats, there are options to suit just about every eventuality.

With voice messaging having proved incredibly popular, WhatsApp is now expanding its instant messaging options to include video. Just like its audio-based cousin, instant video message let you quickly record and share messages -- this time with video.

The arrival of Threads this week saw Meta taking another step into the social arena with its Twitter clone. There have been lots of entirely understandable concerns voiced about Twitter recently, particularly in light of the chaotic impact of Elon Musk, and this has led to swathes of disgruntled and worried users switching allegiances and joining the likes of Bluesky, Mastodon and, now, Threads.

Whether jumping ship, leaving Twitter and signing up for Threads makes sense very much depends on your reason for doing so. If privacy is your main concern, for instance, there is little -- if anything -- to be gained. Coming from the same stables as Facebook, the fact that Threads sucks up personal data should surprise no one, but the sheer volume and range of what it collects is slightly breath-taking.

It can hardly have escaped your notice that Meta officially launched what it is hoping will be its Twitter killer, Threads, this week. The new social platform has already proved astonishingly popular, with millions upon millions of users signing up in a matter of hours.

But while there is a great deal of excitement about what Threads has to offers and how it could disrupt social media, there has also been disappointment at the limitations of the mobile apps. If you're one of the many users who wishes that Threads had more in the way of features, options and settings, Meta has just launched a beta program which anyone is free to join.

Mark Zuckerberg claims that some 30 million people have signed up for Meta's Threads app since its launch on Thursday.

You might be tempted to think, “He would say that,” but in the rush to join the new Twitter alternative are people overlooking the security and privacy implications of the app? Quite a few experts think so.

Although it only launched a couple of days ago, Meta's new Twitter rival Threads is already a big success. It's lacking some important features at the moment, although they are coming, and not all of its capabilities are obvious.

For example, it's not clear how to add a second account to Threads, or how to switch between accounts, but it is possible.