Facebook Messenger - How do you work this thing?

[AndyCalling]

I used to use the baked in FB messenger app but now that's dead I'm trying to get to grips with the new messenger app. It is not easy as there are no instructions anywhere. Can you help?

Issues:
1) When I click on a contact in 'Recent' I have no problems seeing the historic conversation and sending them messages. Clicking on the same contact or any other on the 'Messenger' or 'Active' tabs results in the message 'Sorry, can't show messages right now, please try again'. This is BS because the Recent tab works fine. How do I address this?

2) When I try to report this difficulty on the 'Report a problem' page in the FB Messenger app all I get is a pop-up stating 'Couldn't show report' and the problem report is not sent.

3) Some people have grey FB icons next to their names, and some have little blue flashes. What's the difference? Both types of contact seem to work in the same way (ie. not very well).

So, what's the solution? I am sure this app wasn't released in this horrible state as if this is the same for everyone it would be unusable and the fault easily spotted by their testers, so it must be me? Can anyone advise as to what I'm doing wrong or direct me to the official instructions somewhere so I can learn how to use this app?

Thanks.

 

[Wam1q]

Points 1 and 2 are the same for me too. I don't know why.
People with grey 'f' icons don't use messenger and 'blue flash' icons are for those who use the messenger app, I think.

 

[Kaushik Banerjee]

http://www.windowscentral.com/facebook-messenger-announced-windows-phone

 

[bananabender]

Hey there,

I can confirm that I do not get the error you are stating in problem #1, nor #2. Unfortunately I do not have a solution for them either... Have you tried multiple contacts in the 'messenger' tab? Ones with and without the blue icon? As far as I am aware this blue icon indicates whether the person has facebook messenger, or is online or has facebook on their mobile or something. Basically, they will receive the message instantly in some shape or form? (whether it be on the open facebook webpage or a push notification etc.). The app itself is okay... and can be pretty buggy sometimes. I wish they had an option for a black background or something (how it was before they canned integration). My eyes are melted when texting at night on messenger.

 

[Kaushik Banerjee]

Here is a hands on video by WP central http://www.windowscentral.com/facebook-messenger-hands-on

 

[AndyCalling]

I have checked out the WPC video as suggested, thanks. Thing is, this video only shows how to chat using the 'Recent' contacts tab which I can use fine. What I need is guidance on how to use the other tabs as they don't seem to respond in the same way that the 'Recent' tab does. Is there a more comprehensive guide around?

Banana, thanks for explaining the blue flash, though I still don't quite understand since most of my contacts don't have WP devices and so won't have the MS facebook messenger app and some have a blue flash even when they are showing as 'web' in the Active tab. Good theory but there appears to be more to it than which app a person is using.

I should clarify problem #2, I do get to type in the problem report it just fails when I try to send it. Is there a mechanism to report problems with the problem reporting system? ;-)

Banana, yes I have tried with multiple contacts and it is definitely the tab used that triggers the issue, not the actual contact as they all work from 'Recent' and none do from the other tabs. Looks like Wam1q has the same issue so I'm not the only one who can't figure out how to make this app work. Some of us clearly need more detailed guidance as we aren't as bright as BananaBen. If anyone can show us the light it would help immensely.

 

[Kaushik Banerjee]

I have checked out the WPC video as suggested, thanks. Thing is, this video only shows how to chat using the 'Recent' contacts tab which I can use fine. What I need is guidance on how to use the other tabs as they don't seem to respond in the same way that the 'Recent' tab does. Is there a more comprehensive guide around?

Banana, thanks for explaining the blue flash, though I still don't quite understand since most of my contacts don't have WP devices and so won't have the MS facebook messenger app and some have a blue flash even when they are showing as 'web' in the Active tab. Good theory but there appears to be more to it than which app a person is using.

I should clarify problem #2, I do get to type in the problem report it just fails when I try to send it. Is there a mechanism to report problems with the problem reporting system? ;-)

Banana, yes I have tried with multiple contacts and it is definitely the tab used that triggers the issue, not the actual contact as they all work from 'Recent' and none do from the other tabs. Looks like Wam1q has the same issue so I'm not the only one who can't figure out how to make this app work. Some of us clearly need more detailed guidance as we aren't as bright as BananaBen. If anyone can show us the light it would help immensely.

You can try uninstalling and reinstalling the messenger app and see if it fixes the issues.
Thread blue icon beside the contact shows which of your friends have messenger installed or subscibed to the messenger irrespective of using web android or windows or java OS. So if any one of your contact has used the messenger app at least once but now is using the web still you get to see a blue icon beside the contact

 

[mikeycl]

3) Some people have grey FB icons next to their names, and some have little blue flashes. What's the difference? Both types of contact seem to work in the same way (ie. not very well).

The FB icon means that the person is on the FB website and messaging via that. The Lightning flash means they are using the messenger app on a mobile device.

If the icon is blue they are online and active. If Grey then the user is offline