Facebook Messenger is no longer available as a desktop app
Today is the first day on which the desktop version of Facebook Messenger no longer works. As Meta announced back in October, the Mac and Windows versions of the Facebook Messenger app have now been discontinued.
For anyone who has been a regular user of the desktop app, the appearance of notifications should have served as a warning ahead of time. Now anyone attempting to log into the app will be redirected to either the Facebook website or the Facebook desktop app, depending on whether they are using Windows or macOS.
Mac users do not have a desktop app for Facebook, so the advice from the company is as follows: “The Messenger app for Mac is being deprecated. After deprecation, you won’t be able to log into this app and will be automatically redirected to use Facebook website for messaging”.
The advice for Windows users is slightly different:
The Messenger app for Windows is being deprecated. After deprecation, you won’t be able to log into the app and will be automatically redirected to use the Facebook desktop app for messaging. You can continue all your conversations directly from the Facebook desktop app, with all the same features you had on the Messenger app, like desktop calling.
Meta is aware that not everyone who uses Messenger is fully immersed in the world of Facebook. For these people it says:
What should I do if I have a Messenger-only account?
If you currently use Messenger without a Facebook account, you will be redirected to Messenger.com, where you can still log in without creating a Facebook account.
For those who are concerned about chat history migrating across, it is now too late. Before the cut off date, Meta advised the following:
Will my chat history be saved?
Yes, as long as you take the necessary steps.
- Users who haven’t enabled secure storage in Messenger should turn on secure storage and setup a PIN from their desktop app to save their chat history before moving to the web version.
- Once you transition to Facebook.com, your chat history will be available on all platforms.
To check if you already have secure storage turned on:
- Click
above your profile photo.
- Click Privacy & safety, then click End-to-end encrypted chats.
- Click Message storage, then check if Turn on secure storage is turned on.
With the desktop version of Facebook Messenger now consigned to history, will you be moving to the web based version, or have you found other tools that cater for your messaging needs?
Image credit: MMollaretti / depositphotos
