Facebook Messenger can now be downloaded from the Windows Phone app store. Its arrival makes good on a promise made at Mobile World Congress by Joe Belfiore, VP at Microsoft’s Windows Phone, that Facebook Messenger would be available “in the coming weeks”.

Although Windows Phone has built-in Facebook messaging, the Messenger app has extra features. These include being able to see who’s online for a private or group chat; sending private messages; and using pictures and stickers.

Location can also be shared through the Messenger app, and contacts viewed and managed.

The Facebook Messenger arrives just ahead of Windows Phone 8.1. Microsoft, according to The Verge, is planning to step back from some of its key Facebook integration in the upcoming update, allowing Facebook to provide similar functionality within its own apps.

Belfiore, in a blog last week, claimed that Windows Phone Store had reached “critical mass” with over 240,000 apps, and was growing at an average of 500 apps added each day.