Meta has announced that it will discontinue the standalone Messenger desktop applications for both Windows and Mac on December 15, as confirmed to TechCrunch on Thursday.
From December 15 onward, users will be unable to sign in to these apps and will instead be automatically taken to the Facebook website to use Messenger.
“If you currently use the Messenger desktop apps, you’ll receive an in-app alert when the phase-out begins,” states a Messenger help page. “You’ll have 60 days to continue using the Mac Messenger app before it is completely retired. After this period, access to the Mac Messenger app will be blocked. We recommend uninstalling the app since it will no longer function.”
Appleinsider was the first to notice Meta’s intention to discontinue these desktop applications.
Meta is now notifying users in advance about the upcoming change so they can explore alternative ways to use Messenger. For instance, Windows users can switch to the Facebook desktop app, while both Mac and Windows users can use Messenger through the web.
Meta advises users to enable secure storage and create a PIN to back up their chat history before switching to the web version. After moving to Facebook.com, chat history will be accessible across all devices. To check if secure storage is enabled, users should click the settings icon above their profile photo, select Privacy & safety > End-to-end encrypted chats, and then choose “Message storage” to verify if “Turn on secure storage” is active.
This change follows Meta’s transition from the native Messenger app to a Progressive Web App in September 2024. Naturally, the complete discontinuation of the desktop apps may disappoint dedicated users.
