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Facebook's Accounts Center lets you cross-post to Instagram

You can use it to sign in to both accounts and Messenger at the same time.

Facebook

Facebook is stitching its main platform, Instagram and Messenger a bit more tightly together. It has revealed a unified Accounts Center, which it’s starting to test in the settings of all three apps this week.

You can use it to post stories to Instagram and Facebook at the same time. There’s also a single sign on option, which Facebook says will give you an easier way to log into the various services and recover your accounts.

Later this year, Facebook Pay will be added to the Accounts Center in the US. You’ll be able to enter your payment information once and use it to buy things or make donations on both Instagram and Facebook.

The company noted that connecting your accounts isn’t mandatory. If you do link Instagram and Facebook in Accounts Center, you can maintain distinct identities across both apps. However, you’ll have the option to sync your name and profile image. If you change one of them on Facebook, Instagram can automatically update your name or photo too.

“We use information across our apps to personalize your experience and show you more relevant content, including ads,” Facebook product manager Oren Hod wrote in an announcement post. “Setting up and using Accounts Center won’t change that. We also use information about activity on our apps to improve our services and keep them safe, for example, to help identify and remove accounts that violate our policies, and to keep your accounts secure.”

Facebook has been slowly knitting its various platforms more closely together. It has been working on unifying messaging across Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp for some time, and we’re starting to see that in action. The company is also requiring owners of Oculus virtual reality headsets to log in with a Facebook account starting next month.