Messenger made its triumphant return to the Facebook app back in 2023, with end-to-end encryption finally arriving later that year. Since then, you’ve still been able to access Messenger through the dedicated Windows, macOS, and mobile apps on iOS and Android. However, Meta just announced it is killing off the macOS and Windows versions of its dedicated Messenger app.
With the Messenger app officially heading to the graveyard on those platforms, Windows and macOS users will need to either start using Messenger through their mobile platform of choice instead or visit the Facebook website itself to communicate with their Facebook friends. There has been, of course, some speculation about why Meta is making this move, with some arguing it could be to help push engagement back to Facebook’s website. While Meta itself hasn’t provided an explanation, the apps are no longer available to download on Windows or macOS, and if you are using them currently, you’ll only have a limited window before they stop working altogether.
When are the Messenger apps being removed?
According to Meta’s support pages, the full depreciation of the macOS and Windows apps will happen around 60 days from the announcement date. Based on the earliest reports of the change from AppleInsider — the first publication to spot the updated support pages — that comes out to sometime around December 15. It’s quite a sudden change if you use the apps regularly, and for people without Facebook accounts that use Messenger, it could cause some problems. However, Meta has noted that anyone using Messenger without a Facebook account will just be redirected to Messenger.com in their browser.
While it might be a surprise to some that Meta is killing off its desktop apps, the writing has been on the wall for quite some time. The company previously moved to progressive web apps over actual direct, standalone applications, and they have been seen as notoriously unreliable since that change. Meta is doing something similar with WhatsApp on Windows soon – moving the application from a standalone container to a progressive web app that will basically just be the WhatsApp webpage in a wrapper.
