A couple of years ago, Facebook removed the in-app messaging feature of its mobile app, thus forcing users to download its standalone Messenger app in order to keep chatting with their friends. However this did not apply to the mobile web version of Facebook which could be accessed from browsers.
Facebook has been trying to get users to download the Messenger app, but for the most part has still allowed them to keep chatting with each other through the web interface. However it looks like Facebook’s efforts are starting to become more aggressive as you can see in the screenshot above which shows that users will now have to download the app to chat with their friends.
According to the message it reads, “Soon you’ll only be able to view your messages from Messenger.” However the good news is that you can just click the “X” button and return to your conversations, but given that this is the state of things, we reckon it wouldn’t be long before the feature is removed from the mobile web version of Facebook entirely.
The app is a free download anyway and for Android, it’s actually rather convenient due to the floating chat heads that lets you chat even with other apps open. If you have yet to download the app, head on over to the iTunes App Store or Google Play.