Facebook Messenger reached elite status along with other Android apps that have been downloaded more than 1 billion times.

"Happy to make it to the very exclusive Android 1 billion+ downloads club," Messenger lead David Marcus wrote in his post with a photo displaying the Google Store's 1 Billion Downloads badge. The image was "liked" by colleagues Mark Zuckerberg and Tom Stocky, among hundreds of users, PC Magazine reports.

In the forum on Messenger's page at Google Play, lots of people praised the app for reaching the billion download count, while some commented that the high download rate only happened because Facebook last year separated the service from the Facebook network, forcing about 600 million users to download the app, CTV News reports.

Facebook also recently added video calling on its Messenger app, and with the new feature, people can make face-to-face calls with another person with the same application. Free calling has been available for two years to users of Messenger, although users may be required to pay for data used during the connections.

Messenger also provides the means for online merchants to communicate with customers.