Facebook on Tuesday has announced that Android users can now use Messenger as their default SMS client, allowing them to send text messages within the app itself.

In a post, the company invited users of the messaging app to switch to Messenger when texting to rid themselves of going back and forth between two screens when communicating with their friends and family. The new feature is completely optional, and is only available for gadgets running on Android.

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The steps are quite simple. Users just need to open the Settings within the app and tap SMS from the list. Once Messenger is set as a user's "default SMS app," it will automatically move and separate the user's text messages from their Messenger chats. Users will be able to identify their previous chat conversations in blue and SMS threads in purple.

The SMS feature via Messenger lets users send standard text, images, videos and audio as well as stickers, emojis and even location. But users have to stick to regular Messenger to send GIFs, make voice and video calls or book a ride.

While Facebook's new SMS on Messenger service only supports Android users, Facebook said that the recipient can be on any platform. iPhone users might have to stick with iMessage for now, since iOS have their own set of limitations.

"A lot of Android texting apps didn't keep up with the evolution of messaging, so we felt like we truly had to make Messenger the best SMS client for Android," said Facebook's head of Messenger David Marcus in his post on Tuesday.

As for privacy and security, Facebook said that it would not upload the SMS conversations of users to its servers. All incoming and outgoing messages will be stored locally, and standard SMS fees will still apply.

This news comes after Facebook enabled video comments and 360 Photos last week.

SMS on Messenger is now available in many countries.

TagsFacebook Messenger, sms, iOS, Android