Facebook Messenger’s SMS feature recently went live, integrating your phone’s SMS interface with the Messenger interface, showing text messages in purple to separate it from the default Facebook private messages that come in blue. However, it seems that Facebook’s push for end-users to switch to Messenger for SMS may just be against Google Play’s policies prohibiting obscure and deceptive device changes. This is because of the way Facebook offers Messenger for SMS to its consumers.
The prompt that asks end-users to switch to Messenger for SMS shows only a large ‘OK’ button, and a small ‘Settings’ button, but no obvious way to decline the change. You can’t blame Facebook, though, as more users installing Messenger for SMS will ultimately help the company as a whole, due to in-app purchases that are slowly becoming available for Messenger. The issue that remains, though, is whether or not Facebook is being completely honest with its customers who do not know that Messenger for SMS is optional.
