Facebook to kill chat on mobile web version, messenger app to take over

In a recent report, it has been revealed that social networking giant Facebook will soon kill its in-site chatting option from mobile devices on the website, which means users will have to the download the native Messenger app to views conversations.

While Facebook has earlier pushed users to download its native messenger app for chatting on smartphones, it has stepped up its efforts over the last few days.

According to a report by Android Police, Facebook has been ‘aggressively’ pushing mobile users who chat via the in-app chat to switch to the messenger app. On clicking the default messaging tab, users are being re-directed to Play Store’s Facebook Messenger listing page without any prior warning.

However, if a user denies and decides to go back to the browser, a message will appear, pointing out that messenger will be the only option to view chats soon.

“Soon you'll only be able to view your messages from Messenger.”

Also, users trying to access any conversation by tapping on the chat list on on the mobile web version of Facebook will also be redirected to Play Store, prompting users to download the app. It is still possible to chat through the mobile web version by ignoring the indications; however, it seems that Facebook will soon force all viewers to download messenger for viewing apps.

Over the past few months, Facebook has been aggressively working on integrating new AI bots into its messenger app and this might be one logical reason why they want users to stop chatting via the mobile web UI.