The Messenger app for Windows will soon end. The replacement will disappoint you

Do you communicate with friends using Messenger? Perhaps, like me, you use a special application on Windows because you don’t want to have the entire Facebook open in your browser. This will soon come to an end, Messenger has started displaying a notification that it will end on December 15, 2025. It offers a replacement, but it is far from perfect.

The main reason I use the app, in my case, is that it focuses on one function and doesn’t distract you with superfluous information. Of course, you can read messages on Facebook too, but that means loading an extensive website. Plus, you can have the app as a standalone icon on your taskbar.

Messenger is ending, let’s welcome Facebook

So what does Meta offer as a replacement? After clicking the “Go to Facebook app” button, the Microsoft Store opened for me. In it, you have to download the application. Unfortunately, the Store behaves quite randomly, and instead of starting the installation process, it only downloaded an executable file that then installs the actual application. You have to start the installation manually.

I find it slightly humorous that the application itself is again downloaded from the Microsoft Store. That’s what I call user-friendliness! What awaits us after launch?

Messenger

Meta Platforms, Inc.

Download (Free)

Google Play

The application immediately displayed the content of my Facebook wall, it didn’t even ask for a login. This clearly indicates that it is actually just a web page, wrapped in an application. The application shares login with the browser, which can be both an advantage and a disadvantage.

When we compare the display of Facebook in the app (left) and in the Edge browser (right), it is very difficult to find any difference at all. The only apparent plus is the ability to have that standalone icon on the taskbar, and that Facebook opened this way won’t get mixed up with other websites.

Facebook

Meta Platforms, Inc.

Download (Free)

Google Play

But in the end, that’s not entirely true either. When I tried to open a link from the app in a new tab, a new page opened in the main browser. So the reason for the existence of a special application escapes me. As a replacement for the relatively minimalist Messenger, this application makes no sense at all.

Will you miss Messenger for Windows?

Source: own