Messenger is one of the most popular instant messengers in the world. It’s no wonder that one change can have a colossal impact on the everyday lives of millions of people.
The appearance of Messenger, an application for smartphones, was not received positively. I remember a situation from years ago when Facebook messages were separated into a separate application, and this caused considerable indignation among users because they were used to something different. Today, no one can imagine using a messenger built into a social networking site, at least some people, because the convenience of using an application dedicated to one activity is much higher. It was not without reason that Facebook not only separated the website, i.e. messenger.com, from the rest, but also, after many years, prepared native desktop applications for Windows and macOS. It was quite an event.
Messenger for Windows and macOS was great
Finally, without opening Facebook or Messenger, you could chat with friends, receive notifications about new messages, and conveniently make voice and video calls. Over the years, Messenger for Windows and macOS has been updated along with the mobile version, although there were times when some new features appeared a little later. However, it didn’t bother me at all and I got used to this situation very quickly. Not only me, but also many other people who were happy to use Messenger in this form – the application is easily available in the Windows Store and Mac App Store, so even less advanced users had no problem installing and updating it (which was done most often automatically in the background).
For some reason, Facebook (Meta) changed its mind. We can assume that after recent updates, mainly the introduction of message encryption, maintaining so many applications has become too expensive and time-consuming. A version for iOS/iPadOS and Android, as well as two desktop applications, seems like quite a lot, but for a company of this size it shouldn’t matter. However, the announced update of the application for Windows and macOS has reached or will soon reach everyone, and the opinions about the latest version are – to put it mildly – very unfavorable.
Users furious after Messenger update
It turns out that Messenger for computers with macOS and Windows is becoming a web application. The web version of Messenger has been closed down as a regular app, and it no longer behaves like a typical, native messenger. Also, its interface is no longer fully compatible with the environment in which it works. Some users report problems with notifications (sent de facto by the website) even when the application is open, but one of the biggest changes is the need to have the application running to receive these notifications. Until now, Messenger worked in the background and even if I did not initiate the application after starting the computer, I could keep up to date with incoming messages (look at the bubbles to know whether they are important and require immediate response), but now Messenger must be constantly turned on and the icon on the taskbar active so that you can receive any notifications.
We didn’t have to wait long for the response from users who noticed the change. Ratings with 1 star out of 5 are full of anger and negative reactions, the average rating has dropped to 1.6/5. Among the opinions, we read warnings against updating and reports of problems with video playback in the app and being forced to open all links in messages in the Edge browser on Windows, because that’s how they work wrapperywhich use Edge to run. Moreover, for Messenger to work, it is necessary to run the Edge process in the background to handle notifications…
Will native Messenger return to computers?
Warnings about the withdrawal of support for the native Messenger application have been displayed to me for several weeks, I have seen different end dates on different devices, but it seems that there will be no going back. If you haven’t seen the update window yet, you will see it soon – Messenger will not work until you upload the latest version based on the web version of the messenger.
Will Meta react in any way to the wave of negative comments? Will they notice this reluctance and decide to return to native applications in the coming weeks or months? The chances of this seem illusory, but maybe I’m wrong and something will reach the giant.
Main image – Source: Unsplash @alexbemore
Source: antyweb.pl
