Facebook Messenger is following the footsteps of Spotify, which recently pruned its Premium app, and now the former is trimming the fat from its chat.

Facebook Messenger is rolling out a more streamlined version of its mobile app for both iOS and Android.

According to Facebook, the Messenger 4 will vastly simplify the user interface of the app, reducing the number of tabs from nine to three. As a result, Messenger will retain all the previous functionality it once had and organising it in a less overwhelming manner.

The Chats tab now contains both the one-to-one and group conversations, along with a smaller camera icon for you to take photos or videos for sharing. The People tab lets you see who is currently online and watch your friends’ Stories.

The Discover tab neatly rounds up all the Messenger functions you’ve probably been avoiding thus far, such as connecting brands and businesses, playing Instant Games, news, and so on.

One cool feature added in the update is the ability to add colour gradients to your chat messages. According to an announcement in the blog, a Dark Mode will be introduced in the near future.

These changes have brought on a response in a survey conducted by Facebook, which found 71 per cent of respondents state that simplicity was their top priority in a messaging app. The new Facebook Messenger will be released to all users over the next few days, with further updates to be expected in the near future.