Facebook Messenger Rooms is a video tool that allows up to 50 people to meet simultaneously with no time limit on the meeting. Facebook Rooms are available on personal profiles, in groups, and in events.

You can make your room visible to Facebook friends, invite contacts through Messenger, or share a link privately with a select group of people. It's important to know that if a room is unlocked, anyone with the link can join and share the link with others.

At the top of your News Feed, you'll see a section called “Rooms.” You can click either “Create” in the top right corner of that bar or click on the bubble with your profile picture and a plus sign to start your room.

Up to 50 people can chat in a room at once, with no time limit. Shelby Brown (she/her/hers) is an editor for CNET's services team.

For example, if you turn off Active Status for your Facebook app but not on your Messenger app, people may be able to see your status on Messenger. If you do not want to show your Active Status, turn it off whenever you're using Messenger or Facebook.

Hiding someone is not the same as blocking them. People you hide will not be notified and you will still be able to search for and chat with them. To unhide someone, visit Hidden contacts in your Messenger privacy settings. Note: For the best experience hiding contacts, update your Messenger app to the latest version.

Join a Messenger Room If someone has already created a Messenger Room and has joined it on their end, the button will say “Join.” Click the Join button, then click the Join as button on the next screen. Once you are both in the room, you should be able to see each other for the video call.

Like Zoom, a Facebook Messenger Room is not end-to-end encrypted, but the company is quick to assure us that they will not be listening in or viewing calls. Also, the creator of the group will have complete control over who can join or stay in the call. They can kick out participants at any point.

A free messenger for every device You can use it on Android, iOS, Windows, Mac, and most web browsers. Its interface stays the same no matter what device you're using.

No, not if the message is sent to you from a Facebook friend or contact on Messenger. The message status will change from “delivered” to “seen” once it's been opened. The only time you can read a message without the sender knowing is if it's a message request.

You can hide someone from appearing among your suggested contacts on Messenger, such as at the top of your chats list or in the People tab. From the top of Chats or from the People tab, find the person you want to hide. Tap and hold on the person's photo or name. Tap Hide contact.

You can only access a secret conversation on the device the you created it on. You can send secret conversations from another device, but you won't be able to see any previous messages. When you sign in to Messenger on a new device, you won't see the messages from previous secret conversations.