Facebook Ending Support for Dedicated Messenger Application for Windows on March 3rd

Two years ago almost to the day, Facebook officially launched one of their first dedicated applications for a desktop platform, Messenger for Windows. Since then, the application has gone on to garner a small, but loyal, user base – all of which are undoubtedly extremely upset by today’s announcement. Yes, the rumors are true – on March 3rd, Messenger for Windows will go dark and cease to connect with the service as the company has announced that they will be officially discontinuing the application in order to better support other company efforts.

Facebook has never advertised the application extensively, but today the company has scrubbed virtually all traces from its existence from the Facebook website. Nothing remains but a support page confirming the end of life date with instructions on how to remove the application from your computer. Messenger for Windows users who connect to the service today are greeted with the above screenshot informing them of the change.

So what happens next? Well, myself and a couple of friends started looking into what Facebook Messenger users on Windows will now have for options – and the situation doesn’t look good. Skype for Windows has a good amount of Facebook Messenger integration, as does the long lasting Trillian client – but neither do a great job of supporting the service nor do they feature reliable offline messaging. Truly, the best option for those of you looking for a replacement would be to either install the official Facebook app from the Windows Store if you’re running Windows 8.1, or just keep Facebook.com open in a tab on your browser. Neither are perfect replacements, but they’ll at least keep you in the loop while you’re away from your phone.