The availability of the Facebook Messenger app on the Apple Watch has been making the lives of the owners of the wearable much easier. With this, they no longer need to shift to their smartphones or computers just to reply to messages from the app, for instance.
The app also allows users to send likes, voice clips, stickers, and more without transferring to the smartphone app. The Facebook Messenger app on the Apple Watch was introduced in 2015.
However, Apple Watch users should soon bid goodbye to this functionality. Here’s the news.
Goodbye, Facebook Messenger app on Apple Watch
Meta said it is pulling out the Facebook Messenger app on the Apple Watch starting this May 31st.
Screenshots of the notification that Apple Watch users received were shared on Twitter. The notification said, “Changes to Messenger on Apple Watch. After May 31st, Messenger won’t be available as an Apple Watch app, but you can still get Messenger notifications on your watch.”
Media outlets reached out to Meta for clarification. They got this statement, “People can still receive Messenger notifications on their Apple Watch when paired, but starting at the end of May, they will no longer be able to respond from their watch. But they can continue using Messenger on their iPhone, desktop, and the web.”
Furthermore, Meta did not give a reason why it is pulling out the Facebook Messenger app from the Apple Watch.
This change comes as Meta’s other instant messaging app under its wing, WhatsApp, is working on a native WearOS app. Additionally, this move also comes as Meta has been hoisting some changes around Messager. A few months ago, Meta started testing the ability for users to access their Messenger inbox without going outside the Facebook app.
Musk slams WhatsApp
Meanwhile, in other Meta news, Twitter and Tesla CEO Elon Musk has recently lambasted WhatsApp, saying it “cannot be trusted.”
The billionaire was replying to a tweet from the director of engineering of Twitter, Foad Dabiri, who had a not-so-pleasing encounter with WhatsApp and his Google Pixel 7 Pro.
“WhatsApp has been using the microphone in the background, while I was asleep and since I woke up at 6 a.m. (and that’s just a part of the timeline!) What’s going on?” Dabiri tweeted, sharing a screenshot of his WhatsApp’s microphone usage.
At first, Musk replied to his tweet, saying it was “weird,” but two days later, perhaps after some time pondering, he retweeted it and said, “WhatsApp cannot be trusted.”
WhatsApp responded to the issue, saying, “Over the last 24 hours, we’ve been in touch with a Twitter engineer who posted an issue with his Pixel phone and WhatsApp. We believe this is a bug on Android that mis-attributes information in their Privacy Dashboard and have asked Google to investigate and remediate.”
WhatsApp added that users have complete control over their microphone’s settings. Once granted permission, the app only accesses the microphone when a user calls, or records a voice note or video. It also said that even then, end-to-end encryption protects these communications, so WhatsApp cannot hear them.
Google did not immediately issue a statement regarding the matter.
