Meta is killing the Messenger app for Apple Watch on May 31

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By Webdesk


Meta is killing off its Messenger for Apple Watch app on May 31, the company confirmed to TechCrunch on Thursday. Apple Watch users who have installed the app will be notified that “Messenger will no longer be available as an Apple Watch app after May 31, but you will still be able to receive Messenger notifications on your watch.”

While you can still receive notifications for new messages, you will not be able to respond to them and will need to use your iPhone app to do so.

“People can still receive Messenger notifications on their Apple Watch when paired, but as of early June, they will no longer be able to respond from their watch,” a Meta spokesperson told TechCrunch in an email. “But they can continue to use Messenger on their iPhone, desktop and web, which we’re working on making their personal messages end-to-end encrypted.”

The Messenger app for Apple Watch brings a lot of convenience to its users as you can still receive messages on your watch even if your iPhone is not paired with the wearable. Users are already using social media express their displeasure about the upcoming move.

It is unknown why Meta decided to discontinue the Messenger app for watchOS. Messenger joins a list of other platforms that have discontinued their Apple Watch in recent years, including Slack, Uber, and Twitter.

The change comes as Meta’s other messaging app, WhatsApp, is working on a native WearOS app. Earlier this week, WhatsApp launched a beta version of its app that is compatible with Google’s smartwatch platform. People using WhatsApp beta for Android version 2.23.10.10 can pair their Wear OS based smartwatch. Users can view their messages on the smartwatch and all chats are end-to-end encrypted. Google said support for calling and starting calls will be available when the app is available to all users.

The move also comes as Meta made some changes around Messenger. A few months ago, the company began testing the ability for users to access their Messenger inboxes in the Facebook app. In 2016, Facebook removed messaging capabilities from its mobile web application in order to push people to the Messenger app, in a move that angered many users. Now the company is testing a reversal of this decision.





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