Meta is shutting down its Messenger desktop apps on Windows and Mac
Meta has announced that it is discontinuing its Messenger app for Windows and Mac. The standalone apps are being deprecated in December.
Apple Insider spotted a couple of help pages on Facebook's website that indicated that the apps are being retired. It's unclear why the apps are being killed. As a reminder, Meta replaced its native Messenger app on Windows with a progressive web app in late 2024. A few months ago, the WhatsApp UWP app was also replaced with a web wrapper. Users were upset by both changes.
Meta will notify Messenger desktop users that the app is being retired, via an in-app notification, after the app's deprecation process begins. Existing users will be able to use the Messenger app on Windows or Mac for 60 days before it is fully deprecated. After that, the app will stop working altogether. That doesn't mean existing users get a 60-day grace period. The help pages say that the app is being deprecated, as in it has happened already.
Meta confirmed to TechCrunch that the Messenger desktop apps for Mac and Windows are scheduled to be shut down on December 15, and that's 60 days from now. Users will not be able to sign in to the app, and will be redirected to the Facebook website, where they can continue to access Messenger. Or you can use the Facebook desktop app to use Messenger app for chatting, and calling. The app is only available for Windows, there is no Facebook app for Mac, which means you're stuck with the website. As I mentioned earlier, even the Windows app is just a web wrapper anyway.
Meta is advising users to export their chat history from the app by activating secure storage from Privacy and Safety > End-to-end encrypted chats > Message storage, set up a PIN to save the chats, before switching to Facebook.com. Here is the support page for Messenger on Windows, and this is for the Mac version.
Did you use the Messenger app on your computer?
Wow, didn’t see this coming! It’s a bit disappointing for desktop users, especially since the app made messaging so convenient. At least there’s a way to save chat history before the shutdown. I guess we’ll have to get used to using Messenger through the browser now.
I have an old account on Facebook that I set up with a fictional name many years ago. I use it to video chat with friends and family in other countries. I use the app every couple of weeks. I have started looking for a replacement for the video chat.
I live in a 3rd world country – India. So I am forced to use WhatsApp. I want to delete it so much but absolutely nobody cares about privacy here!
I used it very little, I only had one correspondent.
Well, I’m going to fire her right away…
I stopped using anything related to Meta some time ago. I guess Messenger has become much less useful to Meta now.
There is no Meta anything on any of my tech.