SMS on Messenger, it’s over

Meta is done with SMS. The social networking giant announces their disappearance, from September 28, 2023, of the Facebook Messenger application, which could until then act as the main messaging application, with SMS therefore, on smartphones. A message posted on the service’s help platform warns its users that the September 28 update on Android will eliminate the possibility “to use Messenger to send text messages and receive those sent by your mobile network”. Facebook also recommends that its users turn to Google Messages from the end of September. It should of course be noted that Messenger will still be able to serve as instant messaging, as it currently does.

It was in 2016 that Facebook – long before taking the name Meta – launched the option to integrate SMS into its Messenger instant messaging, encouraging its adoption by encouraging its users to enter their mobile number. within the app. However, the market has evolved considerably since: faced with the popularity of the iMessage system in Apple’s ecosystem and the development of the RCS protocol, which makes it possible to send text messages with rich content, in that of Google, the application of Facebook today lacks arguments to stand out.

If Meta chooses to no longer devote its resources to supporting the SMS function of Messenger, the popularity of its other flagship application is probably not for nothing: WhatsApp, which was acquired in 2014, lists more than two billion monthly active users, and multiplies initiatives to maintain its success.