Why Can’t You Deactivate Your Facebook Messenger Account Anymore?
A brand new version of Facebook Messenger was released for iOS, and while I appreciate Facebook’s newfound interest in keeping the app compact, I think the cut has gone too far. You won’t find any apps or games tied to the Messenger UI anymore, but now it’s harder (or impossible) to do what most people probably want to do in their Messenger app: fiddle with photos, send polls and, oh yeah – log out of Facebook Messenger.
The last part interests me the most. I’m surprised Facebook actually removed the method to deactivate your Facebook Messenger account from their iOS app. While Facebook would probably prefer you not to , I can only assume that omitting it from the app is an oversight and not an intentional change.
If you don’t believe me, go and check for yourself. According to Facebook’s instructions , you usually deactivate Messenger (assuming you’ve already deactivated your Facebook account):
- Open Messenger.
- Click on your profile picture in the upper left corner> Legal & Policy> Deactivate Messenger.
- Tap Deactivate.
Oddly enough, I also can not find this option in the latest version of Facebook Messenger for Android, while others seem to , at some point, could disable Messenger in this way .
So, until Facebook adds this feature back or updates its supporting documentation on how to actually deactivate Messenger, consider permanently deleting your Facebook account if you also want to prevent people from bothering you on Messenger.
At the very least, you can also just uninstall the app from your device — out of sight, out of sight — or turn off all Messenger notifications in case you ever think you’ll use it again. (regardless of whether you reactivate your Facebook account or not). Otherwise, I honestly have no idea how you deactivate Messenger at this point if you only deactivate rather than delete your Facebook account.
For the rest of the features that you won’t be able to access as a result of Facebook’s changes, the company has posted a list that includes:
- Polls
- Recent Stickers
- Camera tools (example: text, boomerang, and editing tools)
- M offers
- M translations
- Payouts in groups
I’ve noticed that some of these – polls in particular – are missing from all versions of Messenger, whether you access it over the Internet or an app on any platform. It’s weird that Facebook launched an updated version of Messenger without making room for some of these useful features that are missing right now, but you have them. If you’re wondering why your Messenger interface seems too simple lately, here’s why.