Messenger

Messenger grew out of Facebook's inbox and became the default way half the planet messages: free chat and calls with anyone in your Facebook world, no phone number required. It is very much a kitchen-sink messenger — the point is that everything a conversation might need is already inside the chat.

The practical upgrades are the ones you'll feel: photos send in high definition, groups can build shared albums everyone adds to (the holiday, grandma's 80th), and files up to 100MB — Word, PDF, Excel — go straight through the chat. Sent something too fast? Messages can be edited for 15 minutes, or unsent entirely, and disappearing messages with a timer you choose run inside end-to-end encrypted chats.

Meta AI sits inside as an assistant — ask it questions, get homework help, or have it create, edit and animate images — though the listing notes it's only available in select languages and countries for now. Around the chats there's a social shell: Stories and short Notes that vanish after 24 hours, Communities for schools, neighborhoods and interest groups, and broadcast channels that put you in a favorite creator's inner circle.

Expression is the garnish: animated stickers and GIFs, and chat themes that redecorate the whole conversation, refreshed with artists and occasions. New people join by QR code — scan theirs or share yours. As a pure messenger it's overqualified, which is exactly why it stays installed: your people are already here.