Meta shuts down Messenger desktop app and redirects users to the web

Meta’s native Messenger application for macOS and Windows officially stopped working on Monday, December 15, 2025. Existing users are now being redirected to Messenger.com to continue using the popular messaging service.

Although the desktop version was launched at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, it failed to compete with work- and meeting-focused platforms such as Zoom. The app could not support large numbers of participants in video calls and lacked essential features like screen sharing or easily shareable links.

Messenger was originally known as “Facebook Chat” when it launched in 2008, before being rebranded. It quickly became available across multiple platforms after Facebook acquired the group messaging service Beluga in 2011, leading to the release of an iOS version. In 2014, Facebook began separating Messenger from its main website, forcing users to download the app separately on their smartphones, while an iPad version appeared around the same time.

Mac users relied on iPhones, iPads, or the web version to access Messenger until 2020, when Facebook released a macOS version through the Mac App Store, coinciding with the Covid-19 outbreak. In 2023, Meta started reintegrating Messenger into the Facebook app in an effort to offset declining usage of the legacy social network. With the shutdown of the desktop version in 2025, the macOS Messenger app lasted only five years, compared with 17 years of “Facebook Chat” and 14 and 10 years for the iPhone and iPad versions respectively. On Windows, the app had already been converted into an enhanced web version last year.

Meta had warned users in the fall of 2025 about the discontinuation of the Messenger desktop app, urging them to set up a PIN code to preserve their chat history before moving to the web version. After the shutdown, users without a Facebook account can still log in directly to Messenger.com without needing to create one.