Facebook Messenger’s Stealthy Video Calling and Bing References

The Facebook Messenger apps released for iOS (iPhone and iPad) and Android yesterday is a game changer just for its ability to send group messages to Facebook contacts and on-phone contacts at the same time. However, 9To5Mac found hidden (or at least unused) icon images within the app that hints at video calling features. The images have the filenames AdminVideoCall.png and AdminVideoCall@2x.png.

Facebook’s Messenger app hides a dirty little secret: Video conferencing

There is, I should note, no obvious voice or video calling options in Facebook Messenger’s exposed user interface. The question is how will Facebook implement this video calling. The most reasonable guess is that it is based on the desktop Facebook Video Calling video calling feature that is powered by Skype.

The other interesting item in 9To5Mac’s image finds is an image file named bingLogo.gif. Facebook and Microsoft have been developing more and more interlocking services over the past two years (note that Microsoft bought Skype this year). It may be that we’ll see Microsoft Bing powered searches in Facebook Messenger along with Microsoft Skype powered video calling.

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