Official Facebook, Messenger and Instagram apps releasing today for Windows 10

Back in October Microsoft in conjunction with Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook, Messenger and Instagram apps for Windows 10 were in the works. Ever since that fateful day anxious users have been wondering when they will be officially released.

Today is that day as Microsoft and Facebook are officially announcing the general availability of all three Facebook-owned apps for Windows 10 and Instagram on Windows 10 Mobile.

The apps feature an in-app browser, GIFs for group conversations, and direct messaging along with Live Tiles that highlight new information without having to open the apps.

Instagram had quietly rolled out their Instagram beta app for Windows 10 Mobile over the last few weeks with at least three updates since. That app is now ready for primetime and considering it is a port of the most current version found on the iPhone it should be kept up to date. This change also means that the new Instagram app has feature parity with the iPhone for the first time.

However, there is no indication that Instagram will come to Windows 10 for PCs. Instead, users will have to wait until the third-party app 6tag is upgraded to UWP for Windows 10.

The Facebook and Messenger apps have also been in limited invite-only testing that has begun to go wider lately. That testing phase is now complete as both apps are open to all to download and use on Windows 10 for PC.

Features of Facebook include Reactions, stickers in comments, notifications so that you don't miss important updates, and a right-hand column that shows birthday, event reminders and trending topics. Messenger, meanwhile, grabs photo sharing, stickers, group conversations, GIFs, and desktop notifications of new messages.

New Facebook apps for Windows 10 Mobile coming soon

For fans of the Windows 10 Mobile OS, the other news is Microsoft is announcing that the new Facebook app will also be "coming soon" to phones too (and we assume they mean to include Messenger as well).

By the sound of it, the existing Facebook app for Windows 10 Mobile maintained by Microsoft will live on until the version from Facebook is ready for Mobile at which point they will switch.

We'll update this post with links when the apps are available. More information can be found on the Facebook blog.

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Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and wearable tech. He has reviewed laptops for over 10 years and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, Arm64 processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, performed polysomnographs in NYC, and was a motion-picture operator for 17 years.

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