Facebook on Desktop redirecting to Messenger
I'm using Facebook for work predominantly, e.g. to post new article links on the site to the users who follow Ghacks on Facebook. Today, I noticed that I could not access the messages anymore that other users were sending me on Facebook. A click on the messages icon on Facebook redirected automatically to the Messenger.com website. It is quite inconvenient to use that site on the desktop next to Facebook, just for reading and replying to messages. I got a sign-in prompt, but I did not really want to sign-in to the site. I closed the tab and tried to find a way on Facebook to end the redirecting and start accessing private messages on Facebook again.
Update: Facebook has reverted the redirection on my systems. It took roughly a week for them, but there are still others that still experience the redirection issue. Maybe it will resolve itself as well after a while? Please leave a comment if that is the case for you. End
I could not find an option to do so, not in the settings or anywhere else. A sign-out and sign-in, and the use of a different browser, were fruitless as well. A research on the Internet showed similar issues, but these were posted years ago when Facebook started to redirect the messages part of its mobile sites to the Messenger site. Users suggested to select "use desktop site" in that case, but this was no option in my case as the desktop site was already loaded. Others suggested to access the various mobile sites on Facebook, but these had the messenger component removed apparently.
Opening Messenger.com and signing in added another issue to the overall experience: I could not see the new messages that users were sending me. I knew that I received a few private messages but these were not shown on the Messenger website. I made the decision to check the Facebook Messenger app on Android; installed it, signed-in, and there were the new messages. I still did not see them on Messenger.com, but when I started to reply to some and got replies, these started to appear on the Messenger site.
It is possible that this is a bug, or that the Messenger site is overloaded. Maybe there are others who face the same issue, who dislike the change, and maybe there is someone who knows a solution to the issue. I don't want to use Facebook Messenger on my mobile, and I don't want to use the Messenger site (even if f it would work). Facebook has a vetted interest in getting users to use all of their products, and this is likely what is happening right now.
Now You: can you access messages on Facebook, or are you redirected to Messenger as well?
Mine is back, but now I cant change colours or themes.
I reported the issue several days ago, as of today its back to the normal popup. YEAH!!!!
I started having this problem about a week ago, yesterday (Jan 27) I did report the Messenger to Facebook and today (Jan 28) it is back to normal.
All working again on my end this morning!! (meaning, drop down menu for Private Messages is back to normal – unfolded list!).
So, I think it’s been faulty for 1 week plus for myself.
All the best.
Ours is back to normal in the USA today also.
As of last night when I left work, mine was still screwy.
But I just arrived at work and turned on my computer and POOF, it is back to normal.
I did leave a nastygram about the whole thing on Tuesday so…………maybe it helped??
I complained via feedback and two hours later it went back to normal.
Omg, mine just spontaneously went back to normal today. I hope everyone has a quick resolution!
Finally my facebook messenger just as of a few minutes ago started opening up and working right again. No more messenger.com redirects. I didn’t do anything to fix it, they just got it working again. Yay!! Was like this for me since the 21st to just now.
Mine just starting working again too! Just this morning. So happy!
I got a notification from Facebook (an overlay over everything) that informed me that they are facing out Messenger in Facebook and Messenger will only be available on Messenger.com. It gave an official face out date but I have forgotten. Personally I feel this is a silly move, and defeats the purpose of even using the system online. For example, I can no longer share things via Messenger unless I’m sharing it from a website (assuming this feature was just overlooked, too).
I didn’t see this when mine changed over (I probably missed it).
I sure hope they got enough negative feedback that they change their mind!!
Well I hope mine goes back to normal. Seems facebook are not answering any of the summited reports. Hate this new messenger.
the meet is annoying there like bloblob i get it😡😡😡😡😡😡
I don’t know for you guys, but my problem disappeared on its own! I did nothing, it just went to normal a few days ago. All i did was to send an angry feedback haha but i doubt that was the reason.
I don’t know for you guys, but my problem disappeared on its own! I did nothing, it just went to normal a few days ago. All i did was to send an angry feedback haha but i doubt that was the reason.
Yep same here cant message on Marketplace or any selling pages. Have to open two tabs instead of the popup window on facebook. I message and reported several times, no responses at all. Tried several of the sugguested methods, nothing works. Please report maybe they might listen and revert back to the orginal way. This way sucks. Especially when only half of the changes work.
Great, thanks for sharing that you have the same problem and not having a solution.🤷â€â™‚ï¸ðŸ¤¦â€â™‚ï¸
Raising awareness for an issue is a legitimate reason for writing an article,
I agree with you, Martin.
Some people are just grumpy.
I hope we all find a resolution soon.
I have reported the problem numerous times. No response. Cant even message about items on Market Place FB sucks Mark Suckerberg is a commie
I am in the US and have had this issue starting on Friday, 1/22.
I came in to work in the morning and it was like that immediately. I use FB for work A LOT. I work with entertainers and communicate with 90% of them via messenger. I need to be able to look at their business pages WHILE I talk to them. This prevents me from doing that.
-I have tried the pop-up blocker, which does nothing. The messenger tab still opens. If I click off of it and try to click on the message icon again, it then does nothing.
-I tried clicking on the little “new message” icon in the bottom right of the screen it does nothing.
-I even tried to see if something was downloaded to my computer without my knowledge, but found nothing.
-I thought maybe it might have something to do with Instagram, but searched settings and got nowhere.
-On an interesting note: I run my company’s FB business page and if I click on messages through that page it acts like it always did, as in it does NOT open a new tab, but takes me to our inbox.
I REALLY need this to be fixed!!!! Going to attempt to submit it as an issue to FB and see what happens.
Yes, none of the options mentioned on here have worked for me. it’s so strange and extremely inconvenient. I tried submitting it as a problem and as feedback multiple times – and other have on here as well – but have received no response or resolution as of yet. So frustrating.
Hopefully it will inexplicably stop soon just as it started. :/
Robin- Same EXACT issues here. It is not everyone. I hope it is resolved. I have sent a dozen support tickets with no response or resolution- It is hurting my business. Let me know if you find a resolution! Thank you !!
Is there anybody know the resolution for the problem.
I’m really bothered by the problem.
This happened to me also. I hope they decide to put it back to the way it used to work. I hate having another open window just to answer messages.
I had this issue and commented on 17 Jan.
Today, it works as normal. When I click on the Messenger icon, it shows a popup and no longer redirects to Messenger.com
https://i.imgur.com/bbI77nI.jpg
Same here. It just started two days ago. Also, when I ‘share’ it does not give me the option to post on a message. I don’t like this! Help!
I logged onto one of my FB burner accounts, messaging link works as normal.
When I return to my “real” FB account messaging is disabled and I have to log onto separate page.
I’m hoping this is some experimental roll out and is ultimately rejected.
Messenger began working on my FB web page. No announcement it just magically reappeared.
Jan-29-2021
This is DRIVING ME NUTS!!!
Thanks for the workaround, but I can’t operate without this darn message link on the top toolbar not working properly. I can’t even send out a message to a group admin/general member etc.
Away for a Coffee and a Calm Down moment!! lol
I’ve been reporting this problem to FB for 6 days now in both Feedback and Report a Problem and today I am not able to do that. I am getting a response of Unable to Submit Report.
As Anonymous said on January 23, there’s a way to still communicate with your contacts..
Still doesn’t stop me from reading my wifes cousins messages. (its serious)
Same Damn thing Over here.. My wife cousins messenger seems to be open once the redirect happens.. The sort of thing someone could sue over as her password isn’t even saved on chrome and there’s no way to log her out.
Here is the solution: DO NOT OPEN THE MESSENGER.COM AT ALL .. WHEN YOU ARE ON YOUR PERSONAL FACEBOOK PAGE, CLICK THE LITTLE HOME BUTTON (Looks like a little house top left) .. ON THE RIGHT WILL APPEAR YOUR “CONTACT LIST†.. YOU WILL NOW BE ABLE TO CHAT WITH ANY OF YOUR FACEBOOK CONTACTS .. (Same as before) .. WHILE EXPLORING FACEBOOK ANY WAY YOU WANT ! Problem Solved !
This does not work, stop spreading false information.
Nope that doesn’t fix it. My contact list was already on the side but I went back home as you said but clicking on one of my contacts simply does nothing. Its like they arent even there. The only way I can operate it is if I open a completely different tab Facebook.com/messages. Then I can click my contacts and review past messages and send replies. Otherwise it simply does nothing when I click on a contact from my personal FB page.
I have had this issue for one week now. It happened instantly, switched to redirect to messenger dot com which I hate. I am on windows 10 with chrome browser. The same issue occurs on firefox and edge.
We are in the USA. My account works fine but my husband’s account opens a separate window. This happens on his iMac and my MacBook using Safari and Firefox. It’s really unacceptable and I hope that it’s corrected soon.
Has anyone figured out to make this stop yet?
It only swapped over today for me and we hatez it.
I got a pop up but it doesn’t forward me to messenger, so now my messenger just does not work on facebook.com at all. Sometimes the messenger link forwards to messenger.com other time it does nothing at all. I can’t click on any people on the right side tool bar and chat windows no longer pop up at all. It doesn’t matter which computer i’m on, which browser etc, just totally broken now.
Mine started yesterday too when I Want to reply in Marketplace I cannot its greyed out and THAT is annoying esp if you need to be quick tp the draw with snapping an item up. FIX THIS CRAP Facebook!
It looks like it happened before, like 4 years ago.
https://www.facebook.com/help/community/question/?id=10210479675245201
I have the same issue, bro… Started yesterday. Really hate it. What’s worse, my 3 best friends and I like to use messenger just to discuss current events and such since we’re spread out across the country, and it is now blocking anything remotely similar to a far right conspiracy, or even discussion (in our case) mocking far right conspiracies…
I am having the same problem here in the U.S. Very irritating that it should just appear one day after everything worked the day before. Thank you to Shadowed for the great suggestion.
Hi Martin , yes this started yesterday afternoon and now it is stuck on one message that I had with someone last week. I cannot open my messages and to be honest liked it as it was without messenger opening a new tab .. that simply does not work . Is there a fix for this that you know of?
Just happened to me yesterday, extremely annoying. I have had to stop using Messenger on my PC as it is just too annoying.
ps I also tried the popup blocker too. They must have caught it.
Mine started yesterday. I cant even reply to
market place ads. I reported and suggested they may be liable if I miss a sell. lol Maybe that will wake them up.I have messenger on my desktop but not my phone I wonder if this is their way of trying to force users to add messenger on their phone.
YES I cannot reply to an item I want to buy and being a reseller the competition locally is fierce I have no time to be fumbling with another application.
same here. exactly same issue. but it’s weird because my sister who’s living with me and uses facebook on her desktop IS NOT having this issue.
Happened to me today!!! Its so annoying, is it a virus or kind of scam? Can anyone pls answer me? Thanks!
“Report A Problem” through FB Help & Support. I just did. Don’t know if it will do any good but if enough of us do it maybe they will get their … stuff together and quite messing with ou accounts.
Yes, I agree. I reported a problem and gave them feedback on their “new facebook”. It really is so ridiculous. I can’t even use facebook now because it’s so annoying. :(
I havve the same issue. If you leave the stupid messager.com page it seems to break all my links so I have to re-open my browser to do anything.
Mine just started today suddenly. :( So frustrating. Who thought this was a good idea?
I tried the pop up block for messenger.com, but it doesn’t work. :(
Got any solution?
Same issue at the moment. One more thing, the “Add Friend” button is missing on my profile and some profile as well, and when I accept a friend request they can’t see my recent posts.
(Loc: Philippines)
My facebook in chrome redirects to messanger.com. It is very annoying and I encounter similar issues to you. Is it a rude and personal attack against facebook if I say that its my personal opinion that I hate this new “feature”?
Mine just messed up tonight. !! :(
Yes, mine too. :(
Everyone needs to report this crap so they will restore it back the right way Facebook is doing this as a roll out evidently but this one trick above works but still need 2 tabs vs being on just the reg facebook page using it as normal… What Idiots FB is
I tried blocking the popup but it did not work; not sure why….
It didn’t work for me either. I tried to block the messenger.com page, as well, but then it just stopped doing anything at all when I clicked on the little messenger button, so I couldn’t even access messages.
Mine just started today with the redirecting. This is horrible I hate it. I just want to click on my icon and send and reply right on m pg.
facebook reverted the decision, power to the people
Not here, it’s still opening messages in Messenger in a new window. :-/
Same. I’m still getting the stupid messenger website and facebook refuses to let me click the messages icon – it’s driving me nuts! This redirecting nonsense is….. well its kinda pissing me off.
OMG my has gone back to the way it was!!! Some time during my night (NZ) I hope all the same for you all :)
same here, all back to normal, RO
I have exactly the same problem as all of you who has written here!
A temporary, not the best but still ok solution is to bookmark http://www.facebook.com/messages/ and click on that when you are logged in on facebook.
Another solution is if you use chrome. (It might work on other browsers as well but I use chrome). If you block pop ups from messenger.com, you will be able to go to your messages like before if you are on facebook and click the messenger icon on left. However, if you click the messenger icon on top of page on right side, it doesn’t work.
How to block pop up from messenger in Chrome:
At the top right, click those three vertical dots, then Settings.
Left side click “Privacy and security,”
Right side click Site settings.
Right side, quite far down click Pop-ups and redirects.
You don’t need to block all pops ups, but where it says “block” just click on “ADD” and then type in messenger.com
Hi Kriss- where is the message icon on the left side? I tried that but I have no message option on the left side? Thank you
Thanks so much for your tip, Kriss! I tried your pop-up block solution and it worked! Messenger now opens again on my fb page. Whew!
This just happened to me, as well, but I can pinpoint the time of the change and maybe that will help us solve it. My desktop facebook had the typical “messenger” that we are all comfortable with. I got a new phone, but instead of installing FB, I decided to just install what was shown to be FB Messenger in the playstore. I hated it immediately and uninstalled it. Went on my computer to do some research and found that my normal messenger was replaced by the one I downloaded on my phone. I don’t understand how or why… but I want my old messenger back, not this redirect to messenger.com. Hope this reaches someone who can help, thank you from Pennsylvania, USA.
This also happened to only to one of the Facebook accounts on my computer and Messenger stayed open even when Facebook accounts were switched .. The second account was able to send a message to someone on the first person’s list because Messenger had not been logged out of and that person’s window remained open .. (talk about a privacy concern !) ,, I thought this all started when initially communications were explored with someone using Instagram etc ,,, happened with both Chrome and IE .. Here is the solution: DO NOT OPEN THE MESSENGER.COM AT ALL .. WHEN YOU ARE ON YOUR PERSONAL FACEBOOK PAGE, CLICK THE LITTLE HOME BUTTON (Looks like a little house top left) .. ON THE RIGHT WILL APPEAR YOUR “CONTACT LIST” .. YOU WILL NOW BE ABLE TO CHAT WITH ANY OF YOUR FACEBOOK CONTACTS .. (Same as before) .. WHILE EXPLORING FACEBOOK ANY WAY YOU WANT ! Problem Solved !
does not work
I tried this and saw some hopeful signs, but it ultimately didn’t work. When I click on my friends’ names in my list now, nothing at all happens. :(
Thank You so much! That did it for me! The first real solution I have found!
I have two accounts, both should be under GDPR. One works well, the other forcers me to use this extra messenger window. Hate it. I hope they only do it because they have to, and working on a solution. Else they will lose millions of users.
UPDATE it came back to me again, but if you click to the message button at the top it opens another tab.. at least if somebody writes me I’ve got back the old little chat windows.
UPDATE
if i click on the messenger button of the header, it opens in a new tab, but i can open the chat in the “old-style” clicking in the name of my frends. Meanwhile my marketplace chats are scrambled with my friends in messenger
Here too. It happened two days ago, I think. I must have been among the first to search online as, like you, I could find nothing but links from six years ago, mostly about mobile.
I’m on PC. I have no desire to be forced to use two distinct websites to access my FB Private Messages. It’s an absurdly bad way of doing things. I’ve tested everything I could think of, from cleaning my cache/data/cookies to using other browsers.
As I have tested logging on my FB account on other PCs and the “bug” persists, I too am leaning towards one of those “intended” features that FB often rolls out randomly throughout its population, using us as guinea pigs. I sent them feedback, to no avail (as usual).
This one will be the last straw for me. I have been scaling back my presence on the network for a while, ever since they first changed their newsfeed algorithms and then after they forced us on the “new” layout after promising we could always opt out back to classic mode. This is not only invasive but really cumbersome and frankly baffingly backward.
I use an Android app called Metal for Facebook. Free, or you can buy the Pro version with a few more features. It’s a wrapper for desktop Facebook and then turns it to a mobile version. But FB still thinks you’re on the desktop version. So, I can use FB messenger on my app, directly from within Metal, rather than installing FB messenger on my phone (because I don’t install any FB native apps ever. Can’t trust them).
Found somewhat of a workaround. In my browser I blocked pop-ups in Facebook so it no longer brings up that separate messenger window in a new tab. Now I have to go to the bottom right and select contacts and it opens the message window within Facebook again. I do have to select the To and put in a name, but it brings up the chat conversation there within Facebook in the little window again.
It happened to me as well in 16.01.2021. Not sure how to turn it off or go back to the regular chat and not messenger.com when clicking on the chat box on facebook.
Any solution? Please update me if so!
WTF. This is not normal anymore. In Estonia same problem. Thinking about time to change communication platforms. Fking annoing. Allmost every FB upgrade since 2009 is all about commercials and “community standardts” Ive heard russians have same kind of platform as FB. Thinking to go this way if one week this wont work anymore :( dissapointed at you FACEBOOK
Started for me a few days ago, and it’s maddening! And to add to the fury, now that all Business pages automatically have a FB chat window pop when you visit their page (awful in its own right), this new nonsense now instead throws you over to a Messenger tab for said business page. Took me a few instances to realize what was happening, and find my way back to the original FB page I was visiting. So clearly the old (?) pop-up windows and this new tab thing are related somehow, but it needs to stop. ARGH.
Guys, same for me. Is there any solution to this??
Another one here- FB really couldn’t care less about their users. I am not prepared to have yet another sign in or app on my desktop pc. Which means I cannot access messages anymore. Time to get off FB.
I gave up on Facebook about 2 years ago, when the Cambridge Analytica stuff came out.
Before that, I used an extension on Firefox Mobile that changed my User-Agent string, to defeat the “YOU MUST CONSTRUCT ADDITIONAL PYLONS”, sorry, I mean “YOU MUST USE FACEBOOK MESSENGER APP TO SEE MESSAGES”.
Same here. Just started this morning (might have started a few days ago but I don’t think I’ve used my computer to chat since Friday until this morning). Super frustrated as I often have multiple conversation chats up at the same time (and I like to scroll the news feed while waiting for replies). I reported it as an “error” to Facebook. Maybe if more people report it as an error it will have some impact in getting it changed back to how it was (although with 3 billion users, not sure how many it would take to make an impact….)
Finally, I found an up to date post on the internet regarding this issue. Same here and I cannot get rid of it. If it is Facebook forcing us to have this change, they should know that I will rather delete Facebook !
Ditto. Mac running High Sierra, but also on my work computer which is a PC. Same issue across all browsers. Wondered if it was an A/B test, but also, friends who more predominately use their phones tend to not have the problem. I have neither the FB app nor Messenger on my phone … could that be an issue?
Regardless, I don’t need Messenger, and if I’m not using Messenger, I don’t need Facebook. So if this is some ploy by FB to get more of my data … fail.
It’s just crazy unbelievable how worse this thing goes with every change?!?!?!??!
It’s happening for me too. You also can’t click on contacts names to bring up a chat box. It just opens a new tab with their chat in messenger.
BUT, if someone messages me, the chat box will come up along the bottom.
This is just another one of the unwanted changes that FB keep making. I really hope something better comes along and phases them out.
same here regardless of any browser I use. Husband’s account is the same but no other friends on the whole of facebook seem to be having the same issue. we are in Birmingham, Alabama.
Same here (Devon UK) for me but not for my partner’s account sitting across the room for me. It happened a few days ago and I have arrived here after trying to find a solution. It is so annoying but I fear it is something new that FB are rolling out.
I Have the same issue, and it started right now. It’s so annoying…
Same here, its bloody annoying as it was so much easier to read chats in those little pop up boxes and talk and read more than one pop up at same time, which is very useful for me for work reasons,
I have resorted to using FF now,
That happens when you have fb dominating the social media connections and chats!! EU must start giving them huge fines…
I have just got the same problem I have reset all setting and nothing. However if I log partners account into my pc hers works fine and if i go onto her pc and log my account in then it re directs me to that also, but if i log hers back in then it works fine. I cannot find away around this so any solutions you may have found please let me know.
Horrible frustrating fuck shot stupid crappy update 😠😠😠😠😠ðŸ˜
Hopefully they fix it soon!
This is outrageous, I hate it, how can I revert back?
Hi, this issue is happening in my principal account
In my secondary account im not having this problem
Thanks that im not the only one
Same here, this is bullshit!
same issue here OS X all browsers, very annoing feature
Oh, same for me! I was looking for a solution for a couple of days now because I thought I’d done something to change settings or anything. But seeing, you guys, have the same problem, really makes me nervous as this could be a new permanent. It is so annoying! I can barely stand I get sound notifications both on desktop and phone and now this.
The same is happening for me since probably the 15th or 16th of January. There does not appear to be a setting to fix this anywhere, while the issue is reproduced in all the browsers I use.
Any solution ?
Yes, it happened to me last January 16, 2021. When I clicked the messenger icon, it will open a new tab, when another message received to view, it will open another new tab instead of a chat box right below the facebook page.
Exactly the same here … which is why I checked. Enormously annoying. Having to use two separate apps for features that used to be melded, makes me wonder if I will continue to use them as much in the future, or look to different apps instead.
Mine has been doing the same for the past day or two, it is OK on my android phone but on desktop its REALLY annoying
Yes!
Thanks for writing this article, as I was thinking I was going insane.
OMG, this is the only place, where the same problem as mine is described! I do not see the little chat pop-ups while browsing facebook, clicking on the chat icon results in opening a new tab at my firefox with messenger.com and list of my conversations… frustrating!
Literally the most annoying change ever! Now i can no longer scroll my feed whilst chatting to friends! I hope this is a trial and they notice how annoyed users are and revert to the old small chat window soon!
weird my girlfriend next to me has this problem but im fine, my account is an old one from the UK hers is German, could be unrelated but thats the only difference here, we are obviously on the same network, her pc being in German makes fault finding tricky, nice to see its a problem that should just right itself, or be a reason i finally put a nail in that coffin
It changed for me like this too just recently. Very annoying.
sane here what’s going on ??
Hi, this is happening to me too in New Zealand. Very very frustrating and this is the only article I have been able to find regarding this. Now I cannot scroll Facebook and messenger on the same page, I have to switch between 2 tabs. Definitely a first world problem, but none-the-less incredibly, incredibly frustrating… and no notification that this was going to happen.
this has happened to me just now. It’s horrible! It happens on every browser. there is no way that I can see of enabling the chat function to open inside the FB website anymore. it redirects to messenger window. I downloaded their NEW*** messenger app for mac OS thinking that I would be able to open it inside the FB website, but no. It’s just another annoying app that will have to stay open on my desktop. This is seriously horrible and very disruptive.
Yep, this change happened a couple days ago to me I believe. I hate it and want it to go back the way it was!
Yeah. I really don’t like this new behavior either!
Since 2 days ago yes same issue here, facebook on desktop redirecting to messenger webpage !
Since 2 days ago yes same issue here, facebook on desktop redirecting to messenger webpage !
Must be an A/B test as I’m still able to get the chat panels to appear within the Facebook web interface, and clicking “See all in Messenger” under the Messenger icon loads facebook.com/messages (which is pretty much the messenger.com interface with the Facebook headers)
I use messenger.com daily though so wouldn’t be a huge deal for me if it did change to the behaviour described in the article. I can see why people would dislike it though.
Same issue here, and if I’m not able to use Messenger within my Facebook page itself, I’ll just delete it! Crazy to have to go to a new tab to view messages (and it takes up a whole page). I haven’t found a way to get rid of it yet.
Same is happening to me and I HATE having a separate screen open for messages. It’s very inconvenient – not only to have a separate tab open for messages, but then to not see the message pop up in its pop-up chat box for multiple conversations while still being able to view the newsfeed. I hate this change.
Same problem here (in hungary) starting with yesterday (16. january), it redirects me to messenger.com on any browser whenever I try to check my messages, it’s extremely annoying.
Have the same issue was wondering if I was crazy Mac OS 11 in safari
I don’t know about this issue on FB in Safari, but I will tell you do NOT update Safari to 14.0.3. It screws up everything, especially when you go to Photos and can no longer see them no matter what you do. Lots and lots of problems with the updated Safari.
It started doing that to me like Friday or Saturday. But, I found an interesting wrinkle that prevented it. I still play an old app game on the site, and when it loads up I get all the old Facebook headers. When I clicked on messenger there it didn’t redirect me to the messenger site, though to check the messages I did have to go to the messenger section of Facebook.
Yep, same here. I use Facebook to stay in touch with extended family and old friends who live interstate and overseas. At least 90% of the time I use the native or UWP app of Messenger, so the change isn’t too much of an inconvenience.
Same here, Firefox on desktop PC :(
I’m glad I’m not the only one experiencing the messenger issue on FB. Two days ago, I discovered that clicking the word “messenger” in the left hand column, the messenger icon in the top right corner – more or less – of FB’s toolbar, or any of my contacts in the lower right coloumn on FB’s “home page” would get a yellow bar above FB’s tool bar at the top pf the screen. Selecting the drop down list, there were 2 identical links that both lead to “messenger.com”. I had to sign in there to access messages. It wasn’t the same for my backup account, but I suspect it’s because my other account is stored on a server different from the one my primary account is on. This was true on both Firefox and Chrome. Also, this comes from Montana, US.
Ps. Using “facebook.com/messenger” worked for me on Firefox. I haven’t tried it on Chrome. But I don’t expect it to work for long.
New Zealand here. It’s affecting me the same way on Chrome and Firefox, but only in one of my FB accounts. The other accounts still let me open message windows within my FB tab. It’s very annoying.
my father is having this issue as well. me or anybody else is not having this problem. i log into his account on my computer and it does the same. it seems to be only on his account no matter where its logged into. he just wants his regular chat boxes back. if you find a fix for this, please update us!
I started getting this last night and couldn’t find anything anywhere, just found this article. Why doesn’t Facebook even announce this? And why would they ever split into two different websites after trying to seamlessly merge them in one screen? Especially with no option to choose. These guys really try their hardest to push users away from them.
I agree, I woke this morning to this new hot mess of just have another tab open. No warning this was going to happen just bosh you can no longer get your messages within facebook. Maybe it is time to start looking for an alternative
Same here. Stazi?
Same here. Although I have one old tab open that works the “proper” way. I don’t know what I am going to do though – I refuse to use Messenger on my phone and the messaging aspect of FB is critical to the work I do. I am screwed if there is no way around it.
I got the block site extension for chrome on the web store and blocked messenger.com, asked it to redirect to https://www.facebook.com/messages instead, and that has worked. This is for people using google chrome browser.
Me too Rebecca! What do we do?
When I pressed on the message icon in fb it opened a new page and said I had to install messenger. After stuffing around and getting frustrated trying not to install it, I installed it, but it’s still not letting me retrieve old messages or send new ones. It just keeps saying I can send to Instagram (I don’t have an Instagram account) and only letting me set up new group chat. And keeps trying to get me to install it, which I’ve done.
same to me since yesterday
I had the same issue miraculously turn up a day ago, now when clicking the message icon I get redirected. All browers, all pc’s and I can’t find any settings that will allow me to use messages inside of facebook again :(
Same here happened today, it’s frustrating
same here and it is peeing me right off..this is my laptop and i should be the one to say what runs on it not that greedy money grabbing twat suckerbugg
just happend to me yesterday , usually i click the message icon on the normal facebook page and it opens the small chat window in the bottom right hand corner of the screen meaning i can still scroll down my facebook page and chat at the same time , since yesterday if i click on the message icon it now opens a new tab on my browser page automatically , the new tab auto redirects to messenger .com and i can no longer scan my facebook page and chat at the same time as i have it switch between 2 tabs , its the same on google chrome and on safari , very annoying i hope there is a solution to get it back to how it was before the change ,
Same issue here and this is the only page I’ve seen related to this issue.
Me too. It’s so strange that it’s only some people that seem to be affected.
Same here. Sudden change without prior notice and I have no idea how to revert it. It super irritates me.
With a possible civil war starting in the US and plans being made online I think personally FB is redirecting to 3rd party software so they can then data mine off of Messenger afterwards. I wonder if Messenger made any updates to their TOS lately too? I refuse to use Messenger when they associated themselves to FB years go via the FB app.
James honey they’re the same company… always have been… messenger isn’t 3rd party it’s 100% facebook… it’s in no way related to MSN Messenger…
FB. Pffffffffffffffffft.
They also got rid of the “add friend option” even if you have it set in settings for anyone to add you. Seems pretty obvious what is going on with all the talk of a civil war starting in the US and possible plans being made online I think personally FB is redirecting to 3rd party software so they can then data mine off of Messenger afterwards. I wonder if Messenger made any updates to their TOS lately too? I refuse to use Messenger when they associated themselves to FB years go via the FB app.
For me the behavior is the same as before. I am still able to use messages normally from desktop when I am logged into Facebook. Maybe this “feature” you are talking about is rolled out at different moments for different regions or countries…
Same issue here, but it’s just me – I’ve asked several contacts and they do not have this issue. The “change” from being able to access messages on the Facebook website to being redirected to the Messenger website happened literally mid-conversation. It felt like a deliberate change for sure. I doubt it’s a glitch.
My Facebook was redirected months ago even if I request desktop it still sends me to m.facebook .com and forced use of messenger only happened when the whole combining of Instagram and Facebook which I didn’t even know I had an Instagram but I do. Also apparently the mirrored server for facebook they have me using is in Mumbai, India or Dublin Ireland. So I get insane people you may know requests and I now have to pay to boost my marketplace ads because before when I would refresh my ad I would get bombarded with requests but now I get nothing unless I pay 7.00 to boost it for 3days on a yard sale site . I’ve written repeatedly to Facebook because someone is running a mirror page of me and threatening my customers and they won’t do anything ..told me to change my password and use two factor auth well thanks Fb …you’re making me pay a Billion dollar massive company what little I have to make money during an economic crisis amid a global pandemic to let some psycho scum use my identity to threaten people and you won’t even bother to find out who it is ?..and then they told me my ad I’ve run for over 3 years violated commerce policy which I read all the guidelines and don’t see how and I’ve disputed the claim to get no response after 9 inquiries into it. If you advertise on marketplace get ready for your ads to go to the bottom of the pile unless you pony up the dough to this greedy company.
There is a UWP Messenger app.
Bob Marley’s ‘No Woman No Cry’ becomes ‘No Facebook No Cry’.
“…ob-uh ob-uh serving the ‘ippocrites…”
Yeah, that’s farcebook.
:)
Okc
It’s not really, because so many spots, especially in marketplace, where you used to be able to send a message are disabled. The buttons are just there greyed out. Really bad programming, product management and User Accepting Testing at Facebook, I think.
Same problem here starting with yday, it redirects me to messenger.com on any browser whenever I try to check my messages, it’s extremely annoying
https://www.facebook.com/messages
This resolved the issue for me!!!
This doesn’t do anything? All it does is open basically the same tab with the full screen chat????
Sandra, the link you posted…when I click it on it opens a messenger in a new window… I actually don’t want that. I want my messenger chat heads to be on my FB page. This link you posted is what I have… my messenger chat window as big as my screen but I don’t have fb on the same screen. Is there any help for this?
Donna
At least it’s a workaround. Thank you!
Yes! Started yesterday for me too. I have asked around and googled, but only find info from prior to 2017. Have no idea why it started and don’t know how to fix it. REALLY irritating!!
Tell me about it! very frustrating.
As of now, im still able to access (and use) the messages for each contact in facebook w/o problems.
Try https://www.facebook.com/messages
It is similar to messenger.com but you have FB header, notifications etc.
Regardin messages not appearing on messengr.com.. I dunno .
OMG!!! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!
Thank you for that. That’s helpful as I prefer not to download another app just for my facebook messages.
I did this but it still routed me back to messenger.com. I installed the block site extension through the web store and that worked. However, since I logged in on the messenger site two days ago, I have been unable to message sellers on marketplace. I’ve made a couple of help requests but facebook will not reply. I buy on sites like facebook, and resell on eBay, for income and I’m kinda freaking out. Any advice???
Shadowed, my problem is until yesterday I could open up my messenger chat heads on my fb page. I cannot do that any longer. I do not want my messenger on a different window as big as my screen. Can you help me out. Your link is not helping my situation. Thank you.
Donna
Thank you.
OMG thank you. I’m having the issue but this works.
I LOVE YOU TOO SHADOWED!!!
Thank you so much ! That works!
Unfortunately, for me, it did open Messenger within FB but after navigating out to do other things and trying to return to Messenger, it opens a new stand-alone Messenger tab. The only workaround I see is to keep the FB Messenger tab open.
I might love you. That works.
Same here in the US. Using only DuckDuckGo as to avoid tracking via safari/Google/foxfire, etc. Duck doesn’t track activity. Messenger and Facebook say the don’t support the browser 😡
I don’t understand, what works? It just pulls up the same crap in a new tab for me….
Oh my god thanks so much!!!!
if you are smart enough you should never install this crap at all!
Yep, very annoying to say the least. Though with Vivaldi we could either tile it or use a web panel. Fortunately, most of the time I use the Win 10 Messenger app anyhow. Though it for sure going to drive my other half nuts.
Heidi-Ann
Thank god for vivialdi web panel
Facebook Messenger via facebook.com is still working with Firefox Desktop Browser for me in Germany. No redirecting so far. On Android I am using Frost app which is scraping facebook.com – using messenger in this app broke several weeks ago in Germany while in other countries it’s still working. Seems Facebook is changing some things in some regions.
For years I’ve avoided installing the Messenger app on mobile. Not really because of tracking concerns but just because I tend to reject any effort by websites to get me to install the mobile app. The same applies to Yelp+Quora, which I don’t really use anymore since they tend to force you to install their apps to read reviews. It’s strange that facebook is shunting people off to a standalone Messenger site for desktop, since unlike with apps, the separate site doesn’t really offer enhanced privileges for them to user data. Unless I’m missing something?
All other Android apps (at least open source ones) have this problem in whole Europe. They use the mobile Facebook API and Facebook removed access to messages from there. Its becasue of some new data law GDPR style in EU. Somewhere I read that Facebok is working to fix it, but it could be left like this. Forcing fetch of desktop site may work on some apps.
Ditch the sh!tbook!