Meta is shutting down its standalone Messenger web site, the corporate shared in a assist web page. Beginning April 2026, the web site will now not be out there. If customers nonetheless need to ship and obtain messages on the internet, they’ll accomplish that whereas logged into Fb.
“After messenger.com goes away, you’ll be mechanically redirected to make use of fb.com/messages for messaging on a pc,” the assistance web page reads. “You possibly can proceed your conversations there or on the Messenger cell app.”
In the event you use Messenger with out a Fb account, then you definately’ll solely be capable of proceed your conversations on the Messenger cell app. Customers can restore their chat historical past on any platform utilizing the PIN they entered once they first created a backup on Messenger. In the event you can’t bear in mind your PIN, you possibly can reset it.
The transfer comes a number of months after Meta shut down Messenger’s stand-alone desktop apps for Home windows and Mac. The writing could have been on the wall on the time, as Meta had been redirecting current desktop app customers to the Fb web site to proceed utilizing the messaging service, reasonably 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 specific their frustration with the replace, with many saying they don’t need to depend on the Fb web site to ship and obtain Messenger chats on the internet, particularly those that have deactivated their Fb accounts.
Whereas Meta’s resolution to close down numerous Messenger platforms is irritating for customers, it permits the tech large to cut back prices by leaving it with fewer platforms to keep up.
Messenger first launched as “Fb Chat” again in 2008, and Fb (now Meta) launched Fb Messenger as a standalone app in 2011. Over time, the tech large positioned Messenger as its personal service exterior of Fb, and in 2014, the social community eliminated messaging capabilities from its most important cell app to push folks to the Messenger app. Nonetheless, the corporate reversed this in 2023 when it started merging Messenger again into the Fb app.
Meta didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.