Meta is shutting down its standalone Messenger web site, the firm shared in a help page. Beginning April 2026, the web site will now not be out there. If customers nonetheless need to ship and obtain messages on the net, they’ll accomplish that whereas logged into Fb.
“After messenger.com goes away, you may be robotically redirected to use facebook.com/messages for messaging on a pc,” the assist web page reads. “You may proceed your conversations there or on the Messenger cell app.”
When you use Messenger with out a Fb account, then you definitely’ll solely give you the option to proceed your conversations on the Messenger cell app. Customers can restore their chat historical past on any platform utilizing the PIN they entered after they first created a backup on Messenger. When you can’t keep in mind your PIN, you’ll be able to reset it.
The transfer comes a couple of months after Meta shut down Messenger’s stand-alone desktop apps for Home windows and Mac. The writing might have been on the wall at the time, as Meta had been redirecting current desktop app customers to the Fb web site to proceed utilizing the messaging service, fairly than the Messenger web site.
The change was first noticed by reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi. Meta is notifying customers of the replace through a pop-up message on the Messenger web site and app.
Customers have taken to social media to express their frustration with the replace, with many saying they don’t need to rely on the Fb web site to ship and obtain Messenger chats on the net, particularly those that have deactivated their Fb accounts.
Whereas Meta’s resolution to shut down varied Messenger platforms is irritating for customers, it permits the tech large to cut back prices by leaving it with fewer platforms to preserve.
Messenger first launched as “Fb Chat” again in 2008, and Fb (now Meta) launched Fb Messenger as a standalone app in 2011. Over the years, the tech large positioned Messenger as its personal service outdoors of Fb, and in 2014, the social community eliminated messaging capabilities from its most important cell app to push folks to the Messenger app. Nevertheless, the firm reversed this in 2023 when it started merging Messenger again into the Fb app.
Meta did not instantly reply to a request for remark.
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