The popular photo, audio and text messaging service Facebook Messenger is reported to be joined by another similar app designed for kids. Named as Messenger Kids, the stand-alone app will allow children aged 13 and under to easily utilize the service to communicate with their friends and family.
It goes without saying that more than 1 billion people who are mostly adults utilize Facebook’s Messenger app in order to communicate with each other every month. With the new app for the kids, the future of Messenger is expected to be set to become much younger.
Facebook announced on Monday that it will be launching Messenger Kids. The main reason behind the launch of this new app was to offer a more controlled environment for the children and the types of communication activity that is already happening across tablets and smartphones among families.
While announcing the app, Facebook Messaging Products Vice President David Marcus said,
“Right now for kids, the time they spend on devices is very passive.”
“It’s not really a device that helps you connect with others close to them,” he added.
The app will be on a preview release on iOS devices initially. It will be then rolled out to a wider audience. Experts see this as Facebook’s latest effort to boost the number of people who daily use its service to connect with each other. Currently, more than 2 billion people utilize Facebook every month and also other apps owned by the company such as WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram further have billions of users.
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