Skip to main content

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

facebook messenger valentines day fb vignette
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.

Recommended Videos

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.

Brenda Stolyar
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Brenda became obsessed with technology after receiving her first Dell computer from her grandpa in the second grade. While…
Have an iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch? You need to update it right now
iPhone 14 Pro Max against a red background.

If you own an Apple product — be in the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or a Mac — you should update it immediately. Why? Apple has begun rolling out updates to all of its devices with fixes for a serious security vulnerability.

The security vulnerability is known as CVE-2023-32434, and it has to do with the kernel privileges of Apple devices. Per Apple's website, the vulnerability allows third-party apps to "execute arbitrary code." In other words, if a bad actor knows how to exploit this vulnerability, they could potentially gain access to your Apple device and wreck havoc.

Read more
The 6 biggest iOS 17 features that Apple stole from Android
iOS 17 logo on an iPhone, Android logo on an Android phone.

Apple made a big splash at WWDC 2023 this year, with the big headline announcement being the Vision Pro augmented reality headset. But we also got a glimpse of what’s to come with iOS 17, iPadOS 17, watchOS 10, and macOS 14 Sonoma.

Though iOS 17 appears to be more of a quiet release this year that focuses on refinement and quality-of-life improvements, I have mixed feelings overall. To be honest, I was a little underwhelmed with the iOS 17 announcement based on what was actually shown off on stage, but there are some very cool features that Apple didn’t make a big deal out of (when it should have).

Read more
11 features in iOS 17 that I can’t wait to use on my iPhone
ios 17 11 features i cant wait to use on my iphone mashup

Apple made a big splash at WWDC 2023 this year as it introduced the first major new product since the Apple Watch with the Vision Pro spatial computing headset. But of course, we also got software announcements for iOS 17, iPadOS 17, watchOS 10, and macOS 14 Sonoma.

Though I feel that iOS 17 is an overall underwhelming update compared to the past few years with iOS 14 and iOS 16, there’s still a lot of interesting stuff coming. The developer beta is out now, and people have been diving into all that iOS 17 has to offer so far. And you know what? There’s plenty to talk about — including a few things Apple didn't even mention during the keynote.

Read more