Facebook Messenger was forced onto us a few years ago when the mother company decided that it will no longer allow users of the Facebook mobile app to exchange messages from within the app. Instead, everyone was forced to download and install the Messenger app in order to keep sending and receiving Facebook messages on their mobile phones.
There is no doubt that this is an annoying move, but it has turned out to be fruitful for the social networking giant thanks to the fact that Facebook Messenger now has a billion users. Still, this doesn’t mean that everyone is a fan of Facebook’s mobile messaging app, be it on Android or iOS. The good side of the story is that there are some workarounds that can be done to ensure that you still send and receive Facebook messages without installing the Messenger app. Stay tuned!
Avoid Facebook and Facebook Messenger completely
One way of ensuring that you never get to send or receive messages via Facebook Messenger it to completely eliminate any dependence on the main social networking app on your phone. This means you ca turn to others such as WhatsApp, Google Hangouts, Skype, Viber, iMessage, Telegram or any other chat app you prefer. But this will also mean that you never to get to interact with Facebook messages on your phone.
If you can’t avoid Facebook, there are still some great ways you can keep accessing your Facebook messages without the need of installing Facebook Messenger app.
Use the web version
The first and most common way of staying clear off Facebook Messenger is by accessing Facebook via your web browser. With this version, you will still be able to access the Conversations option on the top bar. Of course, any attempt to open this section will alert you that you need to get the Facebook Messenger app installed because all messages are being moved to the app.
Ignore this message by hitting the back option of the navigation buttons or rather the Recent apps button. The same can also be avoided by double tapping the Home button for those using iOS devices. This will now let you access your web browser version again. There are some chances that you might still encounter the Messenger warning from this point onwards, but the good thing, this time, is that the window shows up with an option to close, thus leaving you with the Conversations list. From here, you can now proceed with sending messages to any of your Facebook friends without worrying about the Messenger app.
If you somehow end up with the Google Play Store page again, simply repeat the above steps and everything should be fine. There are, however, reports that Facebook might soon eliminate this loophole in a bid to ensure that no private messaging takes place via the social networking platform.
Send it via a PC
While there is too much hassle involved in sending a Facebook message on a mobile phone without using the Messenger app, the process gets easier when accessing Facebook via a PC web browser. One problem, though, is the idea of having to turn to a PC just so as to avoid installing Facebook Messenger on your phone. It might even make more sense here to install the app than having to go through all these hassles. But for those determined to get rid of the app, this is a great way of doing things.
When Facebook eliminated the option to send messages from the mobile app, the main Facebook website remained unchanged. The Conversations section is there, just as always. Unlike the mobile version, you won’t get any warnings or links asking you to download the Messenger app.
As noted earlier, the only proven way of staying off Facebook Messenger is to completely ditch the app along with the Facebook mobile app. In this way, you will be sure of accessing all of your Facebook updates, be it the News Feed or messages, right from the official PC version, which is accessible via a web browser. Otherwise, you might as well consider quitting Facebook once and for all.