Facebook Messenger quietly began testing a new search feature this week that makes it easier for finding stickers and GIFs in one place.
The experimental feature was quietly rolled out to a small group of Messenger users in Canada,Mashable has learned. Figuring out whether you’re one of the selected few is just a matter of loading the app up and looking for a small magnifying glass icon to the right of the “Type a message…” field above your phone’s virtual keyboard.
Tapping the icon effectively turns the typing field into a search bar that looks for GIFs from GIPHY and Riffsy, as well as Messenger’s sticker collection, based on keywords like a person’s name, a movie title, a location, even how you’re feeling:
Searching for stickers in Messenger is already possible by tapping the stickers icon in the row below the typing field. Finding the right GIF, however, remains a slightly more cumbersome process, requiring users to tap first on the More tab above the virtual keyboard. From there, they have to dive into the individual app — assuming they already have it installed — and search that way.
And while the search feature is right now limited to combing through GIFs from GIPHY and Riffsy, a Facebook spokesperson told Mashable the number of apps it supports will eventually grow.
More interesting is how Facebook is taking a stab at consolidating and unifying features like search to improve the user experience. On the stickers side of things, this new unified search feature overlaps with the search feature already offered to all Messenger users under the stickers tab.
“We think Messenger is the best way to express yourself, but we’re constantly thinking of ways to improve,” a Facebook spokesperson told Mashable. “Messenger already offers people ways to send just the right sticker (through sticker search) and the perfect gif (through Messenger Platform apps). This feature brings each of these offerings one step closer and makes it easier than ever to say anything better.”
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Source: Mashable.com