Facebook Messenger Will Drop Support for SMS Messages in September: All Details

Facebook Messenger will soon drop support for sending text messages over cellular networks. Meta’s messaging platform introduced SMS integration on Android smartphones in 2016, allowing users to view text messages alongside messages from Facebook users in a single app. Currently, SMS text messages appear purple on the app, and Messenger conversations appear blue. However, this integration will soon be dropped, months after the Facebook app brought back the Messages inbox functionality.

Facebook Messenger support page It has been revealed that Meta will drop support for text messages in the Messenger app on Android on September 28. The company said the change will appear once users update the app. Users will no longer be able to use Messenger to send and receive text messages over cellular networks, according to details shared by the company. Instead, they can do it through the phone’s default messaging app.

Meta also added that text messages will automatically be saved in the Google Messages app if users don’t choose a new default messaging app. While cellular text messages appear purple, Facebook Messenger conversations appear blue in the app. Users have until Sept. 28 to manually switch to other apps, such as Google Messages or their smartphone maker’s SMS app, such as the one offered by Samsung.

Messenger’s SMS integration was launched by Facebook in 2016 to compete with Apple’s iMessage and Google’s Android Messages across phones. Users who set Facebook Messenger as their default application can view text messages and messages sent by their Facebook friends in the application.

The updated support document comes months after Meta announced that the Facebook app was restoring the Messages inbox feature. The platform, which began testing the feature in early March, enables users to share content via messages on Facebook without switching to the Messenger app. At the time Meta said more than 140 billion messages were sent through the company’s messaging app every day.