Meta to retire messenger desktop app and messenger.com in April 2026

https://dzrh.com.ph/post/meta-to-retire-messenger-desktop-app-and-messengercom-in-april-2026-users-shift-to-web-and-mobile-platforms

32•SoKamil•1h ago

Comments

zetalyrae•46m ago

I remember using Pidgin in ~2009. A dozen chat networks, all on one app. Desktop software built with a native GUI toolkit. And, on top of all that: you could keep your chat logs forever. The world of yesterday.

SoftTalker•41m ago

> you could keep your chat logs forever

Or delete them!

someotherperson•38m ago

You can still use Beeper[0] and similar. The key issue with this type of application is that some networks have put more resources to detecting them and gotten more hostile to users of it - mostly those who tie ad revenue directly to messaging (although officially it's to avoid spam + detect compromised accounts).

[0] https://www.beeper.com/

varun_ch•17m ago

I was surprised to see that Beeper actually has support for ‘local bridges’ that connect to services on-device (which reduces the risk of bans and removes Beeper as the middleman).

I was unsurprised to see that (at least with the local Instagram bridge), Beeper is extremely inconsistent with push notifications and sometimes has messages missing in the chat.

dawnerd•33m ago

Trillian too. Messaging back then was so much better.

shantara•15m ago

I used Miranda. Beautiful app with lots of plugins, and lot of settings and themes to customize it for yourself.

hacker_homie•11m ago

I had that experience on my phone (Nokia n900) all of them went through the messages app.

I miss it.

twolegs•5m ago

And me using Adium on Mac ~2006. Of course rose-tinted glasses and everything, but it was a great experience.

bsimpson•41m ago

It's funny to see this all go full circle. messenger.com was spun out of facebook.com to try to build a new platform. They promised interoperability with Instagram and WhatsApp accounts, although they never did a good enough job that you could just use one account across them.

Facebook really could have been the default identity online provider if they weren't such an abhorrently shitty company. In the early days, you wouldn't even ask for someone's number - you'd just chat on Facebook.

jinushaun•30m ago

They really are forcing me to visit facebook.com in 2026 aren’t they? Guess I’ll stop using FB messenger when I’m on a computer.

RajT88•9m ago

Which one lets them hoover up more data? Probably the desktop app.

Which one lets them display more ads? Probably the site.

For my money, I've always felt like they've tried to force me to use their messenger app on my phone. A while back, desktop/web started asking for a PIN to restore messages. It doesn't always prompt, and sometimes messages are there which you'd think shouldn't be, based on the description of E2EE and the role the PIN plays in it. I did not set any PIN, so I of course don't know it. Resetting the PIN deletes my entire message history.

burkaman•26m ago

It looks like https://www.facebook.com/messages is effectively the same thing.

simlevesque•23m ago

yeah but messenger.com was nice if you've blocked the facebook.com domain to try to use less social media.

huhkerrf•20m ago

I imagine that's part of the motivation behind this decision.

dylan604•14m ago

how many people willing to update their hosts file to redirect internally so that you are still able to avoid typing facebook.com? If someone was willing to block the domain, I'm guessing a high percentage of those would be amenable.

eleventyseven•9m ago

The blast radius is more corporate and school networks that block facebook.com

hackingonempty•22m ago

Hopefully that means they are still using/supporting Rescript.

incomingpain•20m ago

I guess you just goto: https://www.facebook.com/messages/

Not much difference.

pavel_lishin•19m ago

Does that work on mobile? It always prompts me to install Messenger.

pragma_x•12m ago

My workaround here is/was:

- Install browser that lets you run plugins

- Change user-agent to a desktop browser - any will do

- (optional) run social fixer while you're at it

I completely understand that iOS probably won't let you do this. I've been doing this on Android and Firefox, and the web experience on a phone is... functional. Since it thinks its a desktop, the page layout doesn't always gracefully fit into a portrait form-factor. Landscape mode helps in those cases.

pavel_lishin•4m ago

Yeah, my workaround is just going to the desktop version of Facebook when I absolutely must use it on my phone (usually marketplace-related.)

attila-lendvai•9m ago

they deny you access until you give them access...

fsck them! i blocked my fb account and not looking back. once it was a place to find and discuss with interesting people... but now it's just a cesspool of filtered irrelevance and propaganda.

random3•12m ago

I think META like many other "service providers" don't yet realize, that it's becoming trivial to roll your own and all we need is a protocol. And arguably there are many. You can then use your existing social graph (anyone remembers this term? lol) to chat. Your mom and granddad won't roll their own, but publishing an open service that uses FB openID and API while delegating to the open protocol is really not that hard. Browser local storage may not be ideal, but it's a good placeholder until something better can be implemented.

neogodless•11m ago

I'm one of those edge cases who uses Messenger.com a lot.

My facebook account is deactivated but I can keep on messaging. But... facebook.com/messages requires you to log in to your facebook account (which reactivates it).

So Mobile app would be my only option. Right now a lot of family members use Messenger, so it's not trivial to move away entirely.

creddit•8m ago

I’m honestly incredibly surprised they would get rid of the desktop app just as desktop messaging apps have become their most important.

The future Meta AI would have seemingly fit rightly in there.

alex1138•7m ago

Mark Zuckerberg is a vile sociopath, I think the historical evidence long supports it

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