Facebook Messenger's huge update: how to watch F8 event live

Facebook is set to launch huge changes to Messenger, as well as to WhatsApp, Instagram and other products, this evening. The announcements are set to happen at the company’s F8 conference, held today and tomorrow, and which will be live-streamed online.

Messenger is rumoured to be receiving updates that will allow users to search through conversations and make changes to photos. Updates could also be introduced that will allow users to speak through Messenger on third-party sites — a change that seemed to be referenced in a leak this morning.

Some of the changes were leaked in an update that was accidentally posted and spoke of “Messenger as a Platform”, as well as other changes. The company could also reveal virtual reality updates and the introduction of the internet of things.

It also comes a week after the company said it was rolling out the ability to send money to Facebook friends over the service.

Facebook Messenger is used within the main site on the desktop, and within its own app on mobile.

The Messenger event is set to begin at 10pm in the UK, or 3pm local time. The keynotes will begin at 5pm UK time, and will run every hour after that apart from 6pm when delegates will be eating lunch.

On Facebook’s devoted page for the event, users can sign up as online attendees and then receive a notification when the stream goes live. The site requires users to add their name and email addresses to register, or they can do so using their Facebook login.