I’m using Facebook for work predominantly, e.g. to post new article links on the site to the users who follow Ghacks on Facebook. Today, I noticed that I could not access the messages anymore that other users were sending me on Facebook. A click on the messages icon on Facebook redirected automatically to the Messenger.com website. It is quite inconvenient to use that site on the desktop next to Facebook, just for reading and replying to messages. I got a sign-in prompt, but I did not really want to sign-in to the site. I closed the tab and tried to find a way on Facebook to end the redirecting and start accessing private messages on Facebook again.
I could not find an option to do so, not in the settings or anywhere else. A sign-out and sign-in, and the use of a different browser, were fruitless as well. A research on the Internet showed similar issues, but these were posted years ago when Facebook started to redirect the messages part of its mobile sites to the Messenger site. Users suggested to select “use desktop site” in that case, but this was no option in my case as the desktop site was already loaded. Others suggested to access the various mobile sites on Facebook, but these had the messenger component removed apparently.
Opening Messenger.com and signing in added another issue to the overall experience: I could not see the new messages that users were sending me. I knew that I received a few private messages but these were not shown on the Messenger website. I made the decision to check the Facebook Messenger app on Android; installed it, signed-in, and there were the new messages. I still did not see them on Messenger.com, but when I started to reply to some and got replies, these started to appear on the Messenger site.
It is possible that this is a bug, or that the Messenger site is overloaded. Maybe there are others who face the same issue, who dislike the change, and maybe there is someone who knows a solution to the issue. I don’t want to use Facebook Messenger on my mobile, and I don’t want to use the Messenger site (even if f it would work). Facebook has a vetted interest in getting users to use all of their products, and this is likely what is happening right now.
Now You: can you access messages on Facebook, or are you redirected to Messenger as well?
Summary
Article Name
Facebook on Desktop redirecting to Messenger
Description
Facebook is redirecting users who click on the messages icon on the desktop site to Messenger.com.
Author
Martin Brinkmann
Publisher
Ghacks Technology News
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