The Messenger app published by Google received a significant #updatewednesday release this morning, adding support for location sharing, stickers, and quick scrolling. All things, I think we can agree, which are good.

The new location sharing and sticker features, found under the "attach" dialogue, look like this.

You can download new sticker packs (there are currently three), and some of the stickers are even animated. Location sharing is pretty cool - the way it works is quite clever. Your recipient gets a small cutout of a map showing the exact location of the place (as an image file), as well as a link to the location on Google Maps and, if the location has one, a link to the business or POI's web page. This is a feature I am definitely going to use.

Fast scrolling is another new feature - if you have a particularly long conversation, a grabbable scroll bar should appear along the right-hand side of the message for more precise and quicker scrolling if you need it.

If you notice any other new features in Messenger 1.4, be sure to let us know. Download it below.

APK Download

The APK is signed by Google and upgrades your existing app. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is safe to install and was not tampered with in any way. Rather than wait for Google to push this download to your devices, which can take days, download and install it just like any other APK.

File name: com.google.android.apps.messaging-1.4.044_(2061207-38)-14044138-minAPI16.apk

Version: 1.4.044 (2061207-38) (14044138)

MD5: 65e44f1a572619b0bea25134891d9fea