Being active on social media while on the go is Microsoft’s primary goal with Windows Phone, and Messenger and Facebook Chat give owners the ability to connect with contacts through the social network and the popular instant messaging service. What’s great about these features is that they’re integrated into the operating system. Switching between text, messenger and facebook can be achieved in the conversation itself with zero apps.
The only problem with this kind of integration is actually getting everything set up — it’s not as easy as you’d like to believe (no click here). Messenger automatically connects and is ready to launch after you’ve added a Live ID in the step-by-step guide to setting up Windows Phone, but you’ll need to sign in to your Live account and set up Facebook Connect through a web browser to activate Facebook Chat. , as well as adding your Facebook account to your phone. Simply connecting a Facebook account to a Windows Phone only triggers social integration for the People hub and the Me element. Too much, too fast?
Read our full tutorial on Facebook Chat and Messenger for Windows Phone….
- Add your Facebook account to Windows Phone (Settings > Email & Accounts).
- Go to live.com and sign in with your Live ID (the same one used on your phone).
- In the Messenger Social Networks section (where all your contacts’ updates are displayed), select «Add» next to the list of connected networks.
- Connect your Facebook account to your Live ID and grant permissions.
- Make sure you have sufficient permissions selected, especially «Chat with Friends on Facebook».
You should now be able to use Facebook Chat on your Windows Phone by following the steps above. To connect to Messenger and Facebook chat, simply go to the messaging center and swipe left to change the chat’s availability.
If you are unable to connect to Facebook Chat, remember to check if the service is active in the Message Hub settings (select «…» to open the menu and select «Settings», make sure Facebook Chat is enabled).
Once launched, like any IM client on Windows, Linux or Mac, you can set your status:
- Available — activate both Messenger and Facebook Chat
- Busy — displayed as «busy» (affects Messenger only)
- away — Displayed as «Away» (affects Messenger only)
- Appear Offline — activate Messenger only, appear offline (Facebook Chat is not activated with this option)
- offline close all connections to chat services
Messaging services will now be available in conversations present in the messaging center. Text/SMS, Messenger and Facebook Chat integrated in one place. When talking to a contact, you can choose which means of communication you want to use by selecting «Switch» on the app bar (the contact must be connected to the Internet, as well as you, to use Messenger or Facebook chat — statuses are displayed when the service is switched for convenience ).
Check out our quick visual walkthrough below:
