Facebook Messenger to die on web browser soon?

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: It is bad news for all those who prefer to use the Facebook and its Messenger on a web browser, rather than downloading the app. As per reports, Facebook is soon going to end support for messaging on its mobile browser version.

The company is keen that Facebook users download the Messenger app rather than hanging out with friends and connections on the browser. The Facebook app has been found to be one of the biggest culprit in draining the  phone battery, and many users may not welcome the move by Facebook. 

According to TechCrunch users are getting a notification stating, “Your conversations are moving to Messenger,” indicating that the change is coming soon.

TechCrunch points out that the change will likely take place this summer; currently users can dismiss the notification asking them to move to Messenger.

A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the same to TechCrunch, stating that the move to Messenger app platform will help provide the ‘best experience’ in messaging to users. 

Though it is unclear whether Facebook Lite users will also be asked to prefeer the app form of the Messenger.

For Facebook, the move has done wonders as its Messenger is now the world’s second largest instant messaging app after WhatsApp with over 900 million users worldwide. In last two years, the Messenger app has significantly evolved from just routine instant messaging application to a platform that now lets you interact with Artificial Intelligence-based bots.

Currently there is no such data on how many users have been accessing the messages through mobile web browsers. But many have been using this web browser workaround to access messages as they didn’t want to download the Messenger app.

Even I have been using this workaround for a very long time as it gave me the liberty to message only when I intended to. The messaging experience on mobile browser is definitely not at par with the standalone app, but gets the job done nevertheless. So, not having another battery-hogging app on my smartphone made totally sense.