All the Cool New Things You Can Do With Facebook Messenger

At Facebook's F8 developer conference today, Mark Zuckerberg announced two new features coming to the Messenger app. One is Messenger Platform, which lets you use outside apps within Messenger. If you tap the three dots at the bottom of Messenger, you will see the apps you already have installed up top, plus a stream of new apps with a short description. Now, you can download and use them straight from within Messenger. More than 40 apps — like Bitmoji and the new Imgur React — are on Messenger already, and more will be coming soon.

The second feature is Messenger Business, which lets you communicate with — you guessed it — businesses. Soon, you will be able to buy items, get real-time shipping updates, make a reservation, receive a receipt, and much more. Zuckerberg said Facebook is working with a small set of partners like Everlane and zulily on this.

If you've been putting off downloading the separate Messenger app, now might be the time to do so.