How To Deactivate Messenger App?

by Khadija Anwar
4 minutes
Deactivate-Messenger-App

Deactivate your messenger app by going to:

Messenger settings > account ownership and control > deactivation and deletion > continue > enter password > reason for deactivation > deactivate my account.

However, this also deactivates your Facebook account. To keep using Facebook app without the Messenger, you can either turn off the active status or can simply uninstall the Messenger app.

Being that said, let’s help you deactivate Messenger. You can go for messenger detox in three different ways.

Method 1: Deactivate Messenger app on smartphones

Check out the Gif and images that show the preview of the deactivation process.

Deactivate-Facebook-using-messenger

Note: Follow these steps if you want to deactivate Facebook and Messenger. They might be separate apps, but they are heavily connected apps.

Changes in one app will carry in the other app. They both share the same account info and credentials. Therefore, to deactivate Messenger, you have to deactivate Facebook.

Related: How To Create Messenger Without Facebook?

Step 1: 

Open the messenger app and tap the profile icon

tap profile icon

Step 2: 

Scroll and tap “account settings”

tap account setting

 

Step 3:

Tap account ownership and control

tap account ownership and control

Step 4: 

Tap “deactivation and deletion”

tap account deactivation and deletion

 

Step 5:

Tap continue to account deactivation text link

click the link

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Step 6: 

Then choose deactivate account. Further, tap “continue to account deactivation” to proceed

select deactivate account

Step 7: 

Enter the password and tap “continue”

enter password

Step 8:

State your reason for deactivation and tap “continue”

 

 

Step 9:

You will get a preview of alternative choices and days for automatic reactivation.

Choose as per your preference and tap “continue”

tap continue

Step 10:

Tap “Deactivate My Account”

tap account deactivate

 

You have successfully deactivated Facebook and Messenger app.

To reactivate Messenger, log in again with a username and password. 

Related: How To Quickly Solve ‘Facebook Not Working’ Issues?

Method 2: Turn off active status

If you don’t want to deactivate Facebook for the deactivation of a Messenger account, you can hide your active status from inside Messenger.

There are two ways to do this either by going to Facebook on a web-browser or on your mobile app.

Turn off active status on smartphone app

Here’s a preview of the steps to follow

deactivate messenger app gif

Step 1:

Tap your profile icon from Messenger

tap profile icon

Step 2:

Scroll down to the active status and tap it.

select active status

Step 3:

Tap the both blue tabs to turn these options off.

Turn off both options

Step 4:

You will get multiple options if you want to turn off status for hours or until you want to be online again.
Choose the option that suits you and tap “pause”

tap-pause

Step 5: 

Turn off active status. 

After turning off, no one can see that you’re online. 

Turn off status

Turn off Messenger’s active status on web-browser

Below are the steps to inactivate your Messenger chat using Facebook on the web-browser:

Step 1:

Open Facebook and click the messenger icon

tap messenger icon

Step 2:

Click three dot lines and tap the active status.

tap three dot lines

Step 3:

Turn off active status.

Step 4:

Tap “save”

tap save

 

Method 3: Uninstall the messenger app

Go to the app store and tap “uninstall”

Tap-uninstall

or

Navigate to the app icon and hold the app icon. Then, tap “uninstall”.

Uninstall

Note: Once Messenger is uninstalled, all the messages sent from the messenger app will be shown in the Facebook DM service.

FAQs

Can I temporarily deactivate my Messenger only?

No, you can’t temporarily deactivate your messenger account. You have to deactivate Facebook first in order to deactivate your messenger account. 

Where is the deactivate button on Messenger?

There is no deactivate button on Messenger. You can uninstall Messenger or hide its active status inside the messenger. 

Why can I not deactivate my Messenger?

To deactivate Messenger, you have to deactivate your Facebook first. There is no way of deactivating messenger directly.

Khadija Anwar

Meet Khadija Anwar, an accomplished tech writer with over 500 published write-ups to her name. Her impressive portfolio can be found on the ContentStudio blog, LinkedIn, and the Fiverr platform.

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