The app has been widely used in the Smith household in Emerson, New Jersey, too. “We don’t really talk about what we usually talk about now that coronavirus is here,” she says. These lighthearted frills have never been more needed: The conversations between Rebecca and her friends aren’t especially joyful. Among other favorites, she likes the ones that stretch out her smile and another that add unicorns around her. And the number of people Rebecca talks to on Messenger Kids has about doubled since schools shut down and Richards suggested the app to a group of local parents: “Just saying, Hey, if you want to do this, it really has worked well for her.”Īs some children memorize species of dinosaurs, Rebecca has developed an encyclopedic knowledge of Facebook’s AR filters. “She had gotten pretty used to it,” her mom Margaret Richard says of the app. She was already on Messenger Kids before March, keeping in touch with friends from Virginia, where she and her family lived until last winter. “A lot of people got Messenger Kids when coronavirus started,” explains Rebecca Schmidt, an 8 year old who lives in West Chester, Pennsylvania. 'Some of them don't have Messenger Kids.' Courtesy Rebecca Schmidt

'I really miss all my friends,' she says. unicorns, and keeping in touch with her pals. Rebecca Schmidt, 8, uses Messenger Kids for its augmented-reality filters, like this one that adds.

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