Messenger

Messenger is important to me. The problems it has are fixable. 1. I write in a foreign language and as my language is not supported I get red lines under everything I write. This is on no other Messenger platform that I know of. Just fixing this problem would make it a 4 star and a recommend for everyone in the world. 2. Active users. Facebook should know that people generally don't use the "who's active" window and it is annoying to work when something is constantly updating and re-rendering on the screen. I generally scroll down a bit just so I don't have to see this disturbance. These are people I never talk to and it seems weird to show this on the main screen of the application. 3. File-sharing. Why can't the file-sharing be like online. There are too many files types that are not supported. 4. Dropping files or images into the input field. It sometimes doesn't work for some reason. 5. Search. I'd like for the search to be structurally better. It is hard to find things. 6. Calling. When I end a call I have to manually close the window for the call. Why doesn't it close by itself when the call ends? I hope Facebook engineers get on this and make native apps great again!

I just loaded this on my MacBook Air (late 2020 model), and have eto say that it seems like the UI is somewhat broken. There are simple functions on the UI that just don't seem to work as I would expect. For example: The Page Options icon (... in upper right of UI), when clicked nothing happens - UNTIL you click again just off the ... icon. Also If I click on my profile image (lower left of UI) NOTHING HAPPENS - until I click - once again - somewhere OFF that icon. Where selecting a particular conversation would seem to be the "meat and potatoes" of the App, even that doesn't work as it seems like it should. I click on the specific message in the list, and - you guessed it - NOTHING HAPPENS. If I then slide my mouse pointer off to the left margin, lo-and-behold, the message finally comes up. I just don't get this! It seems to be the LEAST INTUITIVE user interface (UI) I have ever seen. While the mobile App on my iPhone seems to behave ESACTLY as I would expect, this Mac Desktop incarnation is just the opposite. As a result, I will likely delete it and just use the iPhone (or iPad). Pretty sad!

First of all -- it is amazing how I can use Messenger app on my MacBook because I wouldn't like to have an iPhone and laptop at the same time, since they are all connected to the same account where we can communicating like iMessage, Messenger, WhatsApp, etc. Honestly, once this issues fixed for not receiving any notification (because I am deaf and i couldn't hear if it is ring me), for major issue is CPU and battery: my CPU is too high and battery went drain too fast, but my laptop isn't very old because I recently updated my new laptop since 6 months ago. By the way, it's beautiful feature when I can be able to enable dark mode to reduce my red eyes on the screen at night (still, doesn't help 100% due to screen). I would give three out of five, but this is still earlier verision of Messenger for macOS. I removed Messenger off of my computer but I will be looking forward to better-fixed version that come friendly support with our (in the world) computers' hardware. It's kinda funny when Messenger works like a charm on iPhone and iPad, but MacBook...

This app is just fine on mobile platforms. My brand new Macbook Pro with 8GB of RAM was running the fan like crazy and couldn't even keep websites loaded. I checked the wifi, closed and reloaded tabs, did updates, etc. Nothing helped, and I was feeling like a I might have a serious problem. While I am pretty tech savvy in using the computer, I am not strong in the underlying workings of software and hardware. I did a little research online, which advised to check the Activity Monitor. Facebook Messenger was the top CPU process - 60% or something - with others nowhere close to that number. These were other programs with far more computing power - Google Chrome, MS word, iBooks, etc. I only had messenger open in the background. I uninstalled the app. Immediately, fans turned off and everything started working again. I did some more research and found out that many people were also having this problem in both Windows and Apple. This is a HUGE issue that Facebook needs to address before continuing to offer this app. It completely cripped a brand new computer just being open. That is unacceptable!

I downloaded this messenger app for my Mac because I consistently had problems sending and viewing messages from my desktop browser on a Mac. Even though every other part of the internet would load just fine, apparently sending a few words on Facebook messenger was just too much for my internet. I downloaded this app and it works just fine, with all my desktop problems going away. This indicates to me that the browser based version of messenger is intentially handicapped in order to drive people over to using the app, which I'm sure does a better job of capturing my data for advertising. Apparently being able to scan all of my messages for ideas on what to sell me simply wasn't profitable enough all on its own. The fact that I needed to download this app to be able to reliably send single word messages in messenger is ludicrous, and whoever came up with the idea of crippling the browser version should be ashamed of themselves and the absolute waste they are to society.

This chat app is ... fine. I'm the right age for facebook, and all my peers are on it, so the network effect makes this more reliable than Whatsapp, Line, or iMessage. However, like with Whatsapp, my chat list is a mess and it's hard to find chats with important friends or family, which often tend to get buried and lost down the list, off screen. For some reason the app suggests people to chat with at the top, whom I *never* chat with, and this just wastes space and muddies up the GUI. I wish I could turn this off and/or replace it with a list of chats *I've* pinned there, on purpose. That would be much more useful.  There's a search bar to find who I'm looking for but that takes at least two clicks and some typing -- far too much trouble. My most important contacts should be visible, waiting for me.

This latest update renders the app essentially useless if you have ADHD and want to chat with your friends with out having to deal with constant distractions. You can no longer hide the "chats" panel, so instead of just the text you want to see (I.e., your conversation), you're also forced to mentally sift through a wall of other text and profile pictures, not to mention the constantly changing suggestions that you message people you haven't spoken to in a decade. It also takes up way more space on your screen, so if you were planning to use it to multi-task, that's about to get harder, too. Now, instead of enjoying conversations with my friends, I get to open the app and be stressed out by the amount of unwanted visual information taking up space that I would rather use for something I actually want to see. Guess I'm switching back to texting now.

I have tried to download and install this app three times for it to get stuck asking me to give it permission to access stored credentials on my iMac. I have no idea what or where to even begin with this, as Messenger isn't even showing up in the OS system preferences anywhere to grant the permissions it seeks. You would think, like most other applications, Messenger's installation process would bring up a window where I can just click on what it needs, or at the very least provide instructions as to where to go and how to do it. Bad programming, the kind you would expect from some single person out in the middle of no man's land who submits their stuff to the Apple App Store, but never updates, or touches it again. It just sits there traveling further and further back in the line of apps where no one would even dare go without a flash light, a bowy knife, and a last will and testament prepared before hand.

As a victim of domestic violence and stalking, I used a VPN as a way to protect myself from being victimized further. I was told by a customer represetative that a VPN was against the Meta Community Guielines and that my account would be shut down. I informed the representative that this was a violation of the United States Constitution under my first ammendment right to freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and the right to petition the government. VPNs play a crucial role in protecting these rights by enabling individuals to access unrestricted information and express their opinions freely online. VPNs empower users to exercise their First Amendment rights even in the face of content restrictions or attempts to limit access to information. Meta has disregarded this Constitutional Right and has placed itself above the LAW. I encourage all readers to invoke your right to privacy and your right to protect yourself by peteitioning your local law makers

If you're looking for a simple app for Messenger, this will suit you just fine for the most part. But under the surface, this app simply does not have enough developer support. I don't fault the developers themselves, but it is evident that Facebook does not consider this a product worth investing much time or money in at all. Bugs, performance issues (CPU and RAM leakage, etc.), all built on a subpar Electron platform. Even little things like the window styling are broken on macOS Big Sur, when they had months to address this before it was released to the public. Simply put, the lack of polish conveys a lack of importance on Facebook's part, which is a huge shame. Casual use is fine, but if you're looking for an app for Messenger even close to as polished as Apple's own Messages app, look elsewhere.

Apparently there are 2 separate versions of this app, one that the facebook website prompts you to download, the other available through the app store. I initially downloaded the version from the Facebook website and upon restarting my computer the following day, my computer shut down and restarted right after powering up, I couldn't choose between paired bluetooth devices or get them to work, and my entire computer was frozen. I just uninstalled it and downloaded the app store version just so I could leave this review. Apparently the two apps, with identical icons and layouts, are not the same. I will follow up after restarting my computer for the 4th time after downloading the app store version.

This app is pretty much identical to the one on the iPad or iPhone, and the consistency is nice to me. I like having the desktop app as opposed to Messenger in the browser, which I never liked. It works fine for me and does what I need it to do. My only real complaint is that since the last update it has started opening automatically when I start up the computer. I don't want it to do that and I can't find a setting that controls that. Please add the ability to choose whether or not the app automatically opens at start up. I make a point never to choose "Reopen windows when logging back in" because it annoys me when things just start popping up immediately.

It' has some bug issues but since it's relatively new it's not a huge deal. I just appreciate the fact that facebook is doing their best to integrate the whole facebook experience to apple eco system. I really wish they would make a facebook app for macos. Hate to say it but the facebook web browers is trash. It loads too much unnecessary things at once and even my latest 13" macbook has a problem keeping up. My main review is for messenger developer to make an extension for the app on system preference. I have a hard time sending photos though the app and I can't share it through the photo app itself. Wish they would make an extension for that.

it was a good app while it lasted. I liked how i was able to talk to my friends with ease unlike some of the other messenger apps there are out there. there wasnt any lag to it. it worked perfectly until a few days ago when it wont load. it will begin to load then closes. so i cant use it now. i deleted it and reintalled it. still didnt fix the issue. but overall its from Facebook. so its in line with the web. loved how you can give gifs, etc on the message without a single bit of trouble. no ads are given unlike the other app i had to use before this one came along.

The Messenger app is great overall, but unfortunately there seems to be a compatibility problem with M1 Macbooks. I have a new M1 Macbook Air with two users set up for my wife and I (both set as administrators). As long as just one of us uses the app, it works fine. But when you keep it open with one user and then switch over to the other user's side and try to use it, the app won't open. The icon just bobs up and down and does nothing. It's as if Messenger is confused that you're trying to open something that's already open by another user. But of course apps are supposed to work independently on each user's side. Hopefully this can be fixed in the next update because it's awesome when it works!

I have been using it since it came out, but some errors have not been addressed or fixed, for example, the app doesn't show properly when is the last time people were active/online, it shows for some time then suddenly disappears, when I search for someone it shows the little green light which indicates the person is online but he is not, if someone is not active for more than 1 hour then it sometimes shows that and sometimes not, this issue is annoying. the time it shows for someone's active status is conflicting with the mobile app or the actual facebook interface. this is super annoying.

Me and my boyfrined are long distance right now and the idea of using up data on our phones and racking up our phone bills is not an option. We use messagner for everything when we are apart form eacnhother. We, call, video, and send eachohter pictures on messanger all day long and it makes me that much closer to him. I miss him so much and knwing that hes a phone call away no matter what feels amazing. Not to mention, its an easy way for the both of us to connect to each others family at any time. We both absolutely love it !!

Every single other mac app has rounded corners, yet this one does not. It would be fine if there were numerous other apps with square corners, or if it was a very intentional design decision, or if it was just some config window that was purely utilitarian, or if it was an obviously difficult challenge for the dev team, or even if it was some bug from a fresh update, but, no. This is a flagship, full-screen, deep-pockets, "big tech" product. The flashy marketing video even shows rounded corners. People are compelled to bear their thoughts and emotions through this thing, and it looks and feels like a garbage app every time it loads. I know I'm not the only one with this issue. The rest of the app is just a port of the Messenger website. 1 star for being functional.

It's great that there is now a desktop version of Messenger that has features like notifications and a dedicated dock icon. However, there are so many pieces of this that feel rushed. This isn't simply a port of the iOS application. This is a full Electron (read: mini web browser) application, which means that it spawns a ton of extra processes that use a lot of resources. Imagine running an extra version of Google Chrome, just to do Facebook messaging. Additionally, it is missing some key customization features like notification sounds. I really wish that this was a fully native app, and I could change the default notification sound.

Taking the fact the scale of the company it is a surprisingly bad product. Setting DND status requires going to settings and looking for the toggle somewhere. I guess user status dropdown is not smething facebook UX team invented yet. It makrs my notifications read even if the app is on the background. Some times I don't get mesages untill I restart the app. UX looks like they barely cared about it, or ported mobile components. Buttons have no hover status to indicate that this part of the screen is clickable, so you have to guess what's a button and what is not. Quite interesting when you click sections in the settings and it opens a facebook page that asks you to login again. Why do I need standalone appa gain? So you could steal more of my personal info?

This was very clearly a port made to capitalize on the whole quarantine situation, as there are a couple major issues with it. First and foremost, the most important part, the notifications. They do not work at all, no badges, no banners. This is very detrimental to the experience, because that's kind of the entire point of downloading the app, which is to get notifications on your desktop without having to keep a browser tab or one of those browser wrapper apps (like Goofy) open, because they are fairly heavy on resource consumption. That leads me to my next point, which is that it consumes quite a bit more resources than I'd like. Overall, I'm glad it's here, but it could be WAY better.

Thank you for making a desktop app, but please keep working on it! There is a persistant bug where it shows a person typing even when they are not. This is incredibly frustrating. They only stop typing when I switch to a different contact. In addition to this the active status is unreliable and the app seems to use up a lot of my computer's resources. My other biggest complaint is the missing hug and heart face emojis (I am sure there are others but these are the two I have noticed). I use them constantly and have to use the OS emoji tool instead...which is a very irritating UX when I just want to show some love and appreciation.

All my phones have recently broke and won't turn on (water damaged) so now I have no access to them anymore. Support staff seems non-existent since there is no easy way to talk with them to verify myself and uploading my ID always ends up with error messages. All the "helpful" links in the help page won't work so I don't know what else to do. Makes me regret turning on two factor authenication and I don't want to create another account if there is no support staff to help with future problems. X (Twitter) even has an option to regain access easily on their site.

The app works well overall, and it's really nice to have a dedicated native app on Mac. It seems like every so often things get buggy and the fixes are slow. For the past month or so video playback has been broken. I'm sure it's something easy to fix. These issues never seem to happen on iOS. Why not just unify the development workflow for iOS and Mac? I'm sure the features and functionality are nearly identical. With Apple Silicon it may even be possible to use the same app on both platforms. Someday...

I frankly would have deleted Facebook altogether if Messenger wasn't the primary way I kept in touch with certain people. I used the desktop app without problems and with my account deactivated for years, and it seems that with the most recent update I am no longer able to do that. For anyone else with the same issue, there is the web-browser version, but it doesn't have a dark mode, which I preferred for my eyes.

Does not respect OS setting to always show the scroll bar. It hides it anyhow. why? who knows. drives me up the wall. PLEASE FIX THIS. App constantly crashes and relaunches itself. It is new so I will let that slide but hopefully they fix this with an update. Oddly the sidebar does not show the same chat group icon as the web does for marketplace related chats. Normally the icon is the item being sold, but this app instead shows the user profile icon. This leads to confusion. The iOS app and web site display the correct icon, only this mac os app does not.

I do appreciate that there is an actual messenger app now. However, as mentioned by many other users. The CPU usage seemed too high for a messaging app. This is especially true in video calls where my i9 Macbook Pro simply froze due to this app alone. Also, since Mac OS Big Sur, the corners of windows have been more rounded. However, the latest version of app renders a somewhat transparent rectangular window which contains a rounded rectangle window. Although it's a minute problem, it is somewhat disappointing that the apparent bug is not fixed in recent updates.

I tried this app when it first came out, and found that when left running in the background, it would start burning up energy like crazy. I would notice my Mac's fan would be on full-speed constantly. As soon as I quite the app, the fan would shut off. I also confirmed using the Energy tab in Activity Monitor that this app uses a ridiculous amount of energy. According to the version history, the app has been updated 15 times since the original release. FIFTEEN. And this issue has still not been addressed. I'm starting to really wonder about Apple's vetting of apps in the App Store if they allow something like this to be released.

The thing w/ messenger is that its the most developed messenger app in the entire world, but it lacks actualy push from FB core developers to actually integrate quickly. It has more features than any other messaging app, but they need to integrate features quicker and develope their eco system more aggressively. They need to add in RCS support so that the app works across more systems as well since text has gone to RCS now.

Version 137.0 is so extra. It insists on opening right in the middle of my screen even though a) I always put it on a specific part of the screen, b) it had no trouble staying there in past versions, and c) every other app behaves properly. So either the devs overlooked a bug or they specifically coded the app to always load this way. The app also insists on recommending I chat with randos who I only interacted with one time and have no reason to talk to them again.

The app is significantly less featured than either FB's internal Messenger or the IOS app. For one, you don't even have the option to archive chats, something usefull for declutering Marketplace interactions without having to delete them and lose the contact if you need it later. What also stinks is if you want OS intergrated notification that aren't wrapped in a browser kit (so you get notificatiuons that reliably works on Apple Watch, for instance) you need to run this stupid thing. Meta should either bring this app to baseline functionailty or just kill it and make a proper standalone web app because THIS... this is not good.

Apple should ban this from the store because you can't just "turn it off" -- it will continue to turn auto-launch back on over and over. Never mind that should be in Login Items, never mind I shouldn't have to go into UNIX commands to demolish every process until it behaves... This is incredibly creepy and sus activity from one of the most heinous companies on the planet and yet... here it is. The only reason I even installed it is because FB forces you to use it for video -- a completely unneccessary act if you obey basic web standards. But where's the profit in THAT?!

I have been using htis app since Nov. 2020 on my older iMac desktop. There was an update this week and now it’s total garbage! I can’t get it to finish loading, it will make me give it permission sporadically, if it does load, it doesn’t have the 3 options it used to…it’s absolute garbage now. I even uninstalled an reinstalled, because after the update, it wouldn’t open at all!!! Right now, as I am writing this review, the app is a white box with gray where my name/avvie should be and it’s pulsing so it has NOT loaded in the last 5-10 minutes thus provoking me to write this disparaging review!

Messenger for desktop is great, it works better than the web version because I can always switch to it with the application switcher and it has access to virtual cameras and mics on my machine more easily than the web version does. Other than that, it's the exact same experience as the web version. Great product.

I'm not 100% sold on this desktop app - is it nice there IS one for MAC? Absolutely, and it performs pretty well for the most part. However, one major, GLARING problem is that spam messages don't appear in my conversation list when I click over to where they would be. I do appreciate that it's now a feature that's being worked on though. Another thing that's a bit subpar is viewing media that's sent or has been sent. It's not a great set up.

Can't send images now. Lots of others are having the same issue according to a quick online search - no solution despite several updates since the problem started. But..., it's "New! Messenger has a new look and more ways to connect with friends." according to the release notes added to every update for the last few YEARS - while actually the UI is old and hasn't been updated for years. That's how much the developers at Meta don't give a hoot about Messenger (doesn't make enough money for them) so they don't even pretend to care.

My only complaint is that the profile photo of the person you're talking to doesn't appear next to the messages like it does on the iOS app. It's much easier to be sure of who i'm talking to when their photo is right there to the left of the message they sent instead of having to look up at the top of the screen or in the sidebar for their name.

The idea of having Messenger on my desktop is awesome. I always stop being that excited when my messages keep disappearing. It's so frustrating when you type a long text, hit the send and your whole message disappears. Not to mention there are a lot of other bugs like not being able to get to older messages in the conversation due to it keeps bouncing back. Please do something about such essential things. You're Facebook for god's sake!

I have used this app frequently over the past 2 years. It's had bugs that were problematic but mostly minor and fixed pretty quickly. Recently, however, it glitched so badly that I had to delete it from my Mac and reinstall. It didn't load properly so I deleted it again. I reinstalled it 3 more times in the last week only for it to fail myserably. Now, all it does is spin and say "Getting Started". No login prompt, no conversation list. Nothing. HUGE FAIL!

I see a lot of complainy reviews but man what are you all complaining about? It's new. And they're actaully working on making this app that enables us to chat without actually opening that time-sucking constant-stream-of-hateful-memes website!!! I love not having to open facebook to chat with people now. I don't care how glitchy it is!

The update a few weeks back made this app unusable. It looks terrible; it doesn't show my current conversations or messages. It's just blank. And when I have it open, it spams me for my keychain password every few seconds. I uninstalled and reinstalled with no improvement and tried every troubleshooting tip I could find. I always thought this app was so handy but now it's useless.

I think there's something wrong with the reconnect logic in the Stories feature that is causing problems. The message list loads almost immediately, but the Stories strip stays as a loading skeleton until the app decides to put up a banner saying that it needs to restart. I keep giving up on the app because the problem never seems to be fixed.

It takes a quite bit to load messages if I want to scroll up and sometimes my stickers don't load at all. Otherwise I'd say it's pretty darn close to the actual messenger app on my phone. I'm personally not a fan of the open chat bubbles on the left side of the UI though. :( I wouldn't want to accidentally click the wrong chat and message the wrong person!

I've been using the desktop app for years now and I'm a big fan. I love that it's directly integrated into my Mac, with notifications and all. My only complaint is it lags the iOS/Android app. For example, it's still missing the Meta AI that has been in the mobile apps for a while now.

I have downloaded and deleted and re-installed this application several times on my Macbook to try and get it to work. The application will download and install fine, and once I open the application I can the main screen that says “messenger” and then it goes to a gray screen and does not do anything. Please help!!!! Also I have tried the “App support” and “Messenger support” and every time I click on that link, it says the page I’ve requested is not found. So, that’s not working either.

I was able to sign on and everything was fine for a while, then I was logged off one day, tried logging back in, and kept getting an error message: unable to complete request. Please try again later. I did..multiple times over a few days, same thing. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling. There always seems to be an error or something wrong with this app. Really annoying!

No, it's not perfect. The app is new and requires some revisions, as does any app, but for being a desktop messaging app, it's really great and has streamlined my communication. I no longer need to keep a window open in my browser. It's extremely efficient and doesn't slow down my computer at all. I really like it!

The app overall seems to work, but (as everyone else is mentioning), notifications don't work. It also seems to have issues if you minimze or "close it." Like it's still technically running, but I need to click the app a number of times before it finally opens again; sometimes needing to entirely quit the app and then reopening it. Not super impressed with how poorly it seems to be designed... Maybe give your apps a little more time in the workshop before releasing them, Facebook... I would expect better from a large company like them.

I don’t know about all the complaints everyone else is making, but it runs great on my iMac. The only problems I’ve had is that not all of the same emojis show up on this version and the reply to comment feature isn’t on here. Aside from that, I’m happy with it and use it all day while working from home.

The Messenger desktop app for Mac seems to work fine. But it lacks end-to-end encryption available in some for or other on the mobile apps for a long while now. In fact, encrypted threads started on the mobile app don't even show up on the web version, Messenger Lite app, or the desktop app. It's a frustrating lack of integration with itself.