Messenger UWP (alpha)

Messenger UWP is a Universal Windows Platform app that lets you access Facebook Messenger on Windows 10 PCs, tablets and phones.

This app is based on the Messenger website (www.messenger.com) by using a WebView and injecting some JavaScript and CSS code.

Because Facebook provides at least two versions of www.messenger.com, we also have two know versions. Currently, we don't know why some users have access to Messenger v1 and some others to Messenger v2 (probably AB testing).

Messenger iOS style	Messenger Android style
Version 1 in this app	Version 2 in this app

Join the preview program 🐱‍💻

You can join the preview program and easily install Messenger UWP from the Microsoft Store.
Use this form to apply for the preview program and you will soon be able to download the app. Please note that you need at least Windows 10 Anniversary Update (1607) to run Messenger UWP.

Don't forget to report bugs and send feedbacks on the GitHub issues page.
We really need feedback as there is probably some difference with www.messenger.com between countries.

Features

All the following features are adapted to run on Windows 10 Desktop and Windows 10 Mobile. Other features can also works but aren't fully tested.

• Send and receive text messages, voice messages, attachments, stickers, reactions and GIFs
• Group and bot conversations
• Take photos
• See who is online and which messages have been read
• Customize chat colors and nicknames
• Native back button support
• Acrylic effect (part of Fluent Design)
• Continuum support

Roadmap

• Dark theme
• Notifications + Live Tiles + Badges
• Calls and video chats (see issue #4)
• Record videos (doesn't seem to work)
• Play games with friends (to test)
• Add filters, masks and effects to your video chats (complicated)
• Watch Stories and add your own (complicated)
• Contact anyone without Facebook account
• Send payments
• Share your location
• Workplace Chat support
• Xbox support

Known issues

• Reactions, reply and forward to messages are not touch-friendly.
• In a thread, when a picture is too large, its preview isn't clipped away nicely.
• When the informations panel of a thread is opened, keyboard navigation can cause problems.

Installation

For all users, join the preview program with the link above.

For developers:

• Install Visual Studio 2019 (VS 2017 should works too).
  • Install the "Universal Windows Platform Development" workload.
  • Install the latest Windows 10 SDK.
• Install the Bundler & Minifier Visual Studio extension.
• Clone the code repository:
  git clone https://github.com/Sylvain2703/MessengerUWP.git
• Open Messenger UWP.sln with Visual Studio.

Changelog

• Version 0.3.0:
  • Add an acrylic effect for the master view background.
  • Improve the loading screen and add a retry button.
  • Allow taking photos and recording audio messages.
  • Add zoom support when viewing pictures (using a touchpad or a touchscreen).
  • Improve the picture album and the settings dialog for small screens.
• Version 0.2.1: Fix an issue where the app crashed due to an internal change in React.
• Version 0.2.0:
  • Improve dialogs, settings and chatbot cards for small screens.
  • Improve navigation between the master and detail view: navigation should work in all cases.
  • Fix an issue where, on Messenger v2, a part of the back button was unexpectedly displayed (on devices with EdgeHTML < 16).
• Version 0.1.0: Initial alpha version.

License

Copyright (C) 2019-2020 Sylvain Bruyère

This repository is licensed with the GNU General Public License v3.0 only (GPL-3.0-only).