A recent PC Magazine report has revealed that Facebook Messenger app has been downloaded by more than 500 million people, in spite of the initial backlash to Facebook’s decision to split Messenger into a separate app.

When Facebook first announced the split of the Messenger function – which has been in existence since 2011 - into a standalone Messenger app in July this year, the company received widespread complaints in the reaction to the move.

The introduction of a standalone Messenger app – which allows Facebook users to send texts and photos to friends, just like SMS messaging - was widely scorned by users because it required users to download the app, while they could originally chat via the Facebook app on their handsets.

However, the PC Magazine report has asserted that despite the widespread scorn, the adoption of the Facebook Messenger app has not been hampered much; as is evident from the fact that over 500 million people have downloaded the app thus far.

With Messenger having approximately 200 million monthly users before Facebook’s decision to split it into a separate app, Peter Martinazzi - Facebook’s director of product management – said: “Today more than 500 million people are using Messenger each month and we’re more committed than ever to make it the best possible messaging experience.”