Messenger Website Is Shutting Down In April: Here's What Next For Users

Messenger Website Is Shutting Down in April: Here’s What Next for Users

Last updated: 2026/02/20 at 6:18 AM

News Room Published 20 February 2026

Meta has announced it will discontinue its standalone Messenger website in April. The move is a setback for desktop users, especially since the company deprecated the standalone Messenger apps for Mac and Windows last year.

“Starting April 2026, messenger.com will no longer be available for messaging. The Messenger desktop app is also no longer available,” Meta says in a support page.

Once the Messenger website is phased out, users can continue chats on desktop via Facebook and on mobile via the Messenger app. Additionally, users trying to access the Messenger website after the shutdown will be automatically redirected to facebook.com/messages, Meta adds.

Messenger users without a Facebook account face stricter limitations. The mobile app will be their only option for accessing the service from April.

Those who wish to restore their chats can do so using their PIN. If you don’t remember your PIN, you can reset it on mobile or desktop by going to Settings > Privacy and safety > End-to-end encrypted chats > Secure storage > Reset PIN.

According to News, the change was first spotted by reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi, and Meta has already begun notifying users about it through pop-up notifications on mobile and desktop.

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As News notes, Messenger first launched as Facebook Chat in 2008. It became Messenger in 2011 and was initially part of the Facebook app. It launched as a standalone service in 2014 and added a desktop app in 2020. The desktop app was retired in December 2025, and the website is now shutting down just months later.

The company hasn’t clarified the reason for the shutdown. Based on data from multiple stat aggregators. Messenger continues to rank among the top four messaging apps worldwide. Naturally, users are upset with Meta’s latest decision.