Facebook and Messenger are looking to rekindle their marriage

After almost a decade, Facebook is looking at bringing Messenger back into the fold on smartphones.

Facebook initially removed Messenger from its app in 2016, sending users who wanted to text to a separate app. 

However, Facebook’s head, Tom Alison, said in a blog post that the company is "testing the ability for people to access their Messenger inbox within the Facebook app."

In addition, Alison said, more users will begin seeing this test coming soon.

He expanded on the announcement in an interview with CNN, saying it would allow users to more easily share content without having to use the Messenger app. 

The announcement came as part of a post by Alison that opened with: "Contrary to reports otherwise, Facebook is not dead nor dying, but in fact alive and thriving with 2 billion daily active users."

The change comes as Facebook aims to stave off competition from TikTok, and Alison believes that sharing more easily will give parent corporation Meta’s apps an advantage.

According to Engadget, Facebook’s reasoning for removing Messenger from its app in 2014 was to make "Messenger the best mobile messaging experience possible and avoid the confusion of having separate Facebook mobile messaging experiences."