Facebook’s family of apps are moving in together. Facebook, Messenger and Instagram are each testing a feature that shows notification counters from the other apps and lets you instantly switch between them.
The feature could boost engagement across the apps by using those maddening red notification jewels to constantly remind you there’s something to see in the other apps. This way if you miss or dismiss an alert when you first receive it, or you don’t get push notifications from every type of activity, you’ll still see that red number lingering in the corner, beckoning your attention.
That’s also why some users will probably hate it. It exploits people’s anxiety about unread alerts and red dots in their blue apps to compel them to action.
Social media analyst Mari Smith first spotted the feature, and Facebook confirmed its existence to TechCrunch noting:
“We are conducting a very small test to make it easier for people to discover and connect with the people and things they care about. We’re exploring ways to help people switch more easily between their Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram accounts.”
The pop-over cross-app switcher appears when some users tap the profile icon in the top corners of Facebook, Messenger or Instagram. That icon displays a sum of the pending notifications from the other apps. Once opened, users see their accounts on the three services and a red jewel denoting unread alerts in those apps, which they can switch to with a tap. Fellow Facebook acquisition WhatsApp isn’t included in the switcher at this time.
Essentially, Facebook is leveraging the massive amounts of time people spend in these three products to override their devices’ operating systems and continuously pester people about its app family’s activity.
Techcrunch event
San Francisco, CA | October 13-15, 2026
Josh Constine is a Venture Partner at ~$3 billion AUM early-stage VC fund SignalFire where he invests in pre-seed startups with a focus on consumer. He teaches startup pitch writing and fundraising strategy as a recurring lecturer at the Stanford Graduate School Of Business, and with accelerators like Z Fellows, Inception Studios, and Stanford ASES. Previously, Constine was Editor-At-Large for TechCrunch where he wrote 4000 articles and was ranked the #1 most cited tech journalist in the world from 2016-2020 by Techmeme. Constine has led 300+ on-stage interviews and keynotes in 18 countries with luminaries including Mark Zuckerberg and the CEOs of Shopify, DoorDash, Snapchat, Instagram, and more. Constine graduated from Stanford University with a Master’s degree he designed in Cybersociology, and wrote his thesis in 2008 on why remixable memes would be the future of marketing. He has been quoted in the NYT and WSJ, is regularly featured on CNN for his thoughts on AI and Silicon Valley, and advises startups on PR, fundraising, and organic growth.