Meta’s Messenger desktop apps shut down

Meta's logo is seen on a sign at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, Calif., Nov. 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez, File)

The desktop version of a popular messaging app hosted by Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, is no longer available.

Is Meta shutting down desktop Messenger app?

Messenger, or Facebook Messenger, can no longer be used through a desktop app on Windows or Mac computers.

Meta confirmed in posts in its Help Center that it was ending the desktop version of the app Messenger. The undated posts say users had 60 days left to use the app, and at the end of that period, they’d be blocked from using the app.

“We encourage you to delete the app since it will no longer be usable,” the posts for Mac and Windows users read.

Why is Messenger desktop app no longer available?

These posts are undated, and Meta did not provide a date for the “deprecation” of the desktop app.

It has been reported by TechCrunch and others that the app was no longer available as of Monday. CTVNews.ca has reached out to Meta for confirmation on the date, but on Tuesday, an attempt to download the app for Windows led to redirection to Facebook’s or Messenger’s website instead.

Meta did not publicly provide reasoning for why the desktop apps were discontinued.

Can I still use Messenger on a computer?

This impacts users who accessed Messenger by opening a dedicated program they had downloaded on their computers, not those who used the chat program through Facebook.com or Messenger.com by opening browser such as Chrome, Firefox, Edge or Safari.

Those who previously used the desktop versions of the app will instead be prompted to use the website version, and they can still access the app on their mobile phones.

Will I lose my conversations?

According to Meta, conversations will be saved and available when logging into Facebook.com or Messenger.com, or through the mobile app, as long as users follow certain steps.

They would have had to enable secure storage in the Messenger app prior to its deactivation, then set up a PIN from the desktop app to save their chat history.

They would then be prompted to enter this PIN on the web version.

Users who only have Messenger accounts, but not Facebook accounts, can still log in without creating a Facebook account, Meta says. They will be directed to Messenger.com, instead of Facebook.com.