Facebook Messenger’s new features for couples arrive in time for Valentine’s Day

By Brenda Stolyar Published February 12, 2018

Right on time for Valentine’s Day, Facebook Messenger is introducing new features for couples who are taking the steps toward officially defining the relationship. The messaging platform will include special effects, different ways to personalize your conversations, and more starting on February 14.

Valentine’s Day was one of the most active days for chats in 2017, so the company decided to look into exactly how people were romantically expressing themselves. This data was then applied to create different ways for users to interact on the special day this year. It could also be Facebook’s way to push you toward finally defining the relationship.

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The new features will apply to those who update their relationship status on Valentine’s Day and beyond. The valid relationship types specifically include “In a Relationship, “Engaged,” “In a Civil Union,” “Married,” “In a Domestic Partnership,” and “In an Open Relationship.”

Once you’ve made the changes to your profile, you’ll receive a notification in Messenger that will open up to a conversation with your significant other. Within the message window, there will be a heart shower effect that will fall across your screen when you open up the conversation.

To easily access the window, your loved one will also remain the first person on the Active tab — so you’ll be able to see when they’re online. You’ll also be able to personalize your conversations, with options to set your own custom text color, nickname, or emoji.

Other features include a variety of filters and effects in the Messenger Camera. Your options will include a heart eyes filter — which features an animation — as well as a Queen of Hearts filter and a falling candy heart effect. The filters will also be available to use on Messenger video chat.

A handful of brands have been thrown into the mix in case you need to put together some last-minute plans. With bots on Messenger, you can find recipes with the Food Network, plan a movie night with Fandango, and more. You can also use the iHeartRadio bot to choose from different playlists set around the special day or order flowers straight through the 1-800 -Flowers bot.

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