Meta, the parent company of Facebook, announced that its Messenger service will be discontinued at the end of May on Apple Watch devices. Thus, users can no longer reply or send messages with Messenger on the Apple Watch.
A post circulating on social media shared a screenshot showing a notification to some users that Messenger will not be available as an app on Apple Watch after May 31st.
"People can still receive Messenger notifications on their Apple Watch at this time, but starting in late May they will no longer be able to respond from their watch. However users can continue to use Messenger on their iPhone, desktop and the web," said a Meta spokesperson. as quoted by us from MacRumors.
NOT HAPPY @Apple @messenger #applewatch #wtf pic.twitter.com/B81aK6EUf3
— Amanda Nova (@M_anda_M) May 9, 2023
Meta did not give reasons for its decision to discontinue the Messenger app for Apple Watch, which was introduced in 2015. Apart from Messenger, other apps that have been discontinued on the Apple Watch include Twitter, Instagram, Target, Trello, Slack, Hulu, and Uber.
Apple over time has gradually shifted away from promoting the Apple Watch as a home for apps with Apple focusing on fitness and health features as primary functionality.
Rumors recently suggested Apple intends to make interactive widgets a big part of its watchOS 10 redesign, which has been interpreted as evidence that custom apps haven't proven popular enough.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman believes the move is an acknowledgment that iPhone-like app experiences don't always work well on smartwatches because the apps on the Apple Watch are nearly unusable.
However, as it is a radical departure from the app-centric experience Apple Watch users are used to, Apple could make a new widget-based interface an option.
The changes are part of what Gurman claims is one of the Apple Watch's biggest software updates since its introduction and the most significant change to the Apple Watch this year, as only minor hardware updates are expected to roll out later this year.