Meta To Pull The Plug On Messenger App For Apple Watch; Users Must Reply Using iPhone

If you use the Messenger app on your Apple Watch, here’s some unpleasant news for you: Meta—the parent company of Facebook—is killing the Messenger app for the Apple Watch.

As per TechCrunch, Apple Watch users with the Messenger app already installed are receiving notifications stating that the app will no longer be available on Apple Watches after May 31st. However, users will continue to receive notifications for Messenger, but they will have to reply to texts from their iPhones.

A Meta spokesperson, speaking to TechCrunch, was quoted as saying, “People can still receive Messenger notifications on their Apple Watch when paired, but starting at the beginning of June they will no longer be able to respond from their watch.”

He added that Meta is looking to make messages end-to-end encrypted on other platforms like web, desktop, and iPhone so that users may continue to use the app there.

The end of support for the Messenger app on the Apple Watch will prove to be inconvenient for a plethora of users who swear by using the app on their wrists, as the app works standalone—without the need to be connected to an iPhone.

Meta will join the growing list of popular services that have killed their respective apps on the Apple Watch—including Uber, Twitter, and Slack.

However, the company is bringing native support for WearOS with its other messaging app, WhatsApp—and soon, Android users can expect to reply to WhatsApp messages directly from their wrists.