Facebook has been in the limelight recently because of changes to its new web messenger app.

The web messenger app needs to be downloaded separately to chat on Facebook, and to keep it running at the same time as Facebook.

Users, however, said it's not easy to use and they want just one button to click and everything will be there. Users don't want a second app running all the time.

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Apparently, users have the right not use the Facebook Web Messenger app and to look for better alternatives that are user-friendly. Users said chat apps are better than texting from a phone because it's internet-based.

Here are a few of these chat apps:

GroupMe
Users can download it for free and its available on Apple, Android and Windows phones. It is a good chat app for talking to more than one friend or contact.

TextPlus
It's for free and available on both Apple and Android. The app contains free unlimited texting.

It's also got free phone calls using a TextPLus generated phone number to its 60 million TextPlus members. Users pay two cents (US$0.02) per minute when calling outside the network.

TapTalk
It's also free to download. Available on Android and Apple. It offers one-to-one picture and video sharing in a split second.

The chat app allows users to send photos or videos quickly. It also shows your locations to your contacts.

MessageMe
The chat app is also free and available on Apple and Android. It's designed for group messaging.

It also contains a desktop to keep conversations flowing between desktop and mobile. Not only for photo and video sharing, it has the capacity to exchange texts. It also allows users to surf for pictures and place them right in the chat app.

Google Hangouts
Available in Apple and Android for free. The old school Google Talk chat service changed into Hangouts in 2013.

It offers video chat and free phone calls within the chat app to any number in the U.S. and Canada without charge.

Viber
This popular chat app is free. It can be downloaded for Apple, Android, Windows, and Blackberry.

It has 300 million users and offers more than free texting. It has a desktop app that allows the users to make free phone calls and texts around the world with other Viber users using the computer.

Earlier this year, Viber was bought by Rakuten, a Japanese media company, for US$900 million.

WhatsApp
Absolutely free to download for Apple, Android, Windows, and Blackberry. The stand-alone chat app has 450 million users.

Facebook bought WhatsApp earlier this year for US$19 billion. The chat app is more famous overseas than in the U.S. as an alternative way for sending texts for free worldwide.

Since Facebook's announcement about the changes to its web messenger app, download percentage has increased and has become one of the most downloaded app on the iTunes download chart.

TagsFacebook Web Messenger, chat app, online messaging, WhatsApp, Viber, Google Hangouts, MessageMe, TapTalk, TextPlus, GroupMe, online messenger