💥 Explore this must-read post from TechCrunch 📖
📂 Category: Apps,Social,chat apps,Facebook,Messenger,Meta,social media
💡 Key idea:
RIP to the Facebook Messenger desktop app. The native app for Mac and Windows is no longer available to users as of today, December 15, 2025, and existing users are being directed to Facebook’s website to continue using the popular messaging service.
Although originally launched at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Messenger desktop app couldn’t handle as many video call participants as business-focused competitors like Zoom, and it didn’t offer screen sharing or easy-to-share URLs.
The writing was on the wall that the app was declining in importance for Meta, even before the company announced plans to shut it down in October.
In 2023, Facebook began integrating Messenger back into the Facebook app.
Recently, the company changed the technology behind the desktop version of the application. According to the Meta help documentation, Messenger for Mac is built with Catalyst, which allows developers to bring iPad apps to the Mac. The technology has received criticism from both developers and users, with developers citing the additional work required, while users noted the apps’ lack of a native appearance.
Before the release of Catalyst, the Mac app was an Electron app that was later migrated to a React Native Desktop app, according to a former Meta software engineer.
On Windows, the app transitioned to a Progressive Web app last year.
The cuts are likely to impact user demand for a standalone Mac app, while the strategy of moving Messenger back to Facebook suggests that Meta was trying to support declining usage of its legacy flagship social network.
This fall, the company warned users that the Messenger desktop app would be retired by the end of the year, and encouraged users to set up a PIN to save chat history before moving to the web.
People who use Messenger without a Facebook account will be redirected to Messenger.com after the shutdown, where they will be able to sign in without creating a Facebook account.
More information for users about the transfer is available in the Facebook Help Center, with separate sections for Mac users and Windows users.
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🕒 Posted on 1765816031
