How to Use FaceBook Messenger on Mac OS X via Messages App

Apr 25, 2015 - 68 Comments

Facebook Messenger in Mac OS X Facebook Messenger is a popular means of communicating, but the Mac doesn’t have a dedicated Facebook messaging app like the iPhone or Android does… or does it!?! Indeed, you can use Facebook Messenger to message friends from OS X, and in moments you can set up the Mac Messages app to function as a Facebook Messenger client in OS X.

Using Facebook Messenger from the Mac is really quite simple, but it’s entirely separate from configuring Facebook sharing from the Mac, so if you have done one but not the other, you’d need to complete both to have the full Facebook functions of sharing, posting, and messaging available to you in OS X.

How to Add Facebook Messenger to Messages in OS X

This basically turns your Messages app into a full fledged Mac Facebook Messenger client, you’ll be set up in just a few seconds with these instructions:

  1. Open the Messages app on the Mac if you haven’t done so yet
  2. Mac Messages icon

  3. Pull down the “Messages” menu and choose “Add Account…”
  4. Add an account to Messages for Facebook

  5. From the message account screen, choose “Other messages account…” and click on “Continue”
  6. Add Facebook Chat to Mac Messages app

  7. Pull down the menu next to “Account Type” and select ‘Jabber’ from the list
  8. In “Account Name” enter your Facebook account user name as follows: YourUserName@chat.facebook.com (a Facebook username is whatever your Facebook profile URL is, for example: ‘www.facebook.com/your_name_here’ the username would be “your_name_here” and the account name would then be your_name_here@chat.facebook.com)
  9. Enter your Facebook account password in the password field, this is the same one you use to login to Facebook from the web or the apps
  10. Add Facebook chat for Facebook messenger support in Mac OS X Messages app

  11. Ignore all other settings and choose “Create” – this will setup Facebook messaging client and in a moment you’ll see your Facebook Friends list populate as a buddy list, complete with friend names and friend profile pictures
  12. Facebook Messenger friends buddy list in Messages app of OS X

  13. Message anyone in the list as usual, the conversations are going through Facebook Messenger

Facebook messenger in Mac OS X Messages app

If you’re on a Mac, the ability to have Facebook Messenger conversations right in the Messages app of OS X is really quite nice, the conversations will appear alongside other text messages and iMessages, Google Chat, Yahoo Messenger, or AOL / AIM communications.

Once you have Facebook Messenger added to Messages, you will be automatically logged into Facebook Messenger when the Messages app opens. To log out of Facebook Messenger in Messages, simply pull down the “Messages” menu item and choose “Log out of chat.facebook.com” – similarly, you can log in that way as well.

You can access the Facebook Friends buddy list at any time from the “Windows” menu item in Messages app, where you can also set your status to be online or offline, or away.

Facebook Messenger friends list in Mac Messages app

This certainly beats having a web browser window open to Facebook.com on a Mac, and if you have set up Facebook posts and sharing in OS X you now have much of the Facebook functionality right in OS X without having to go to the website to talk to friends, share stuff, or post status updates.

What if you don’t have Messages for OS X? All modern Macs should, but if you’re using an older version of Mac system software that has the iChat app instead, don’t worry, you can also use Facebook chat in iChat too. The configuration and setup process is a little bit different, but the protocol is the same as is the ability to have a full conversation with your Facebook buddies. So, whatever your version of OS X on whatever your Mac, you’ll be Facebooking. Good for you. And no, if Facebook has been blocked on the network or hosts file, this will not bypass it.

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Posted by: Paul Horowitz in Mac OS, Tips & Tricks

68 Comments

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  1. Gary Walker says:

    My version on the Mac has no spot on the dropdown to “add an account” like messenger. What’s uP?

  2. Tom says:

    Delete this page if it no longer works. Or at least put a comment at the top of the page so people don’t need to read all of the posts.

    Geez.

  3. Tom says:

    Big price for a small perk.

    Holy Toledo! The installation app closed Safari, and when it reopened it, it did not restore my previous session! All of my open tabs … GONE!

    Safari’s history only keeps track of recent pages opened, so if you have several windows with multiple tabs, you’re screwed!

  4. Rhonda says:

    Hello,
    Can anyone help me?
    I followed the above instructions to add fb Messenger to my Macbook pro. Then I logged out, but I forgot to record my password. Now I can’t get back into fb messenger and I see no option for resetting the password.

  5. rob says:

    Tried this and it doesn’t work. Says my username or password is incorrect but they’re not.

  6. Jim Greer says:

    You can at least have a pop-out style FB messenger in a separate browser window by using

    https://www.messenger.com/

  7. CanturkIsci says:

    Same here w Yosemite, gives me the sam wrong password error in Messages :(

  8. carlos says:

    Didn’t work :( with El Capitn OS

  9. John says:

    Just tried this and it did not work. Won’t accept my FB password after triple checking. iMac OSX Yosemite 10.10.5

  10. Unfortunately this is not working any more.

  11. Dizzy says:

    Since Messages App on Mac doesn’t connect to FB Messenger anymore, I’ve been using http://www.messenger.com and it’s working just fine!

    I can talk to the right people without having my attention disturbed by the ever-changing timeline!

  12. fail says:

    This did not work for me. Waste of time. Fail. I followed the instructions and nothing works. FAIL

  13. Zé Marques says:

    Stopped working for me a few days ago. I’m using fluid + messenger.com but it’s not the same thing, no notification and no icon badge :(

  14. What a shame… Well, it was nice when it lasted!

  15. You might want to update your readers this is now broken as facebook disabled XMPP usesage in early 2015. If there is a work around I’d love to know it.

  16. Ratfink says:

    Stopped working fro me this month as well.

    Anybody got a solution as this was really useful for me.

  17. Jane Doe says:

    Chat stopped working on Dec 21st 2015. I get wrong username/password message.

  18. alii.alex says:

    Stopped working for me today. RIP to easy Facebooking.

  19. alfredo says:

    Not working since December 2015, Any solution?

  20. Luxo says:

    Stopped working for me earlier this week.

    Announce at:
    https://developers.facebook.com/docs/chat

    Chat API (Deprecated)

    On April 30, 2014, we announced the deprecation of the XMPP Chat API as part of the release of Platform API v2.0.

    After April 30th, 2015 apps will no longer be able to access the service or API. This includes both access to chat.facebook.com and the xmpp_login permission.

    We recommend people access Facebook Messages on the desktop via Facebook.com or Messenger.com.

  21. Andrew says:

    This no longer works since Facebook shutdown it’s chat API. You may want to update this post.

  22. Andrey says:

    Not working anymore… Any solution?

  23. Danfox says:

    It does not work for me since the begin of December.
    Anyone knows the reasons?

  24. rowan says:

    It’s December 7th and it hasn’t worked in a few weeks. It says my login and password are incorrect. Bummer! Sometimes I wonder why I’m still on facebook as it’s just ads and garbage.

    • Truthy says:

      Facebook Messenger continues to work in Messages regardless of the date, but yes Facebook itself is a load of rubbish that cultivates narcissism, ADHD, loathing, jealousy, and unhappiness. Nobody should use it.

  25. Peter says:

    It stopped working for me in the beginning of December :(.

  26. bergman says:

    It does work. Check again if you already have installed facebook on your notification centre, which is apparently a requirement.

  27. Working! says:

    Working on October 31th!

  28. gg says:

    October 15th and and it works fine.

  29. Sash says:

    ForAllOfYou,WhoStillStruggle.ItDidn’tWorkForMeUntilIFoundOut(I’mAnIdiot)….OfCourseYouGotToActivate”chat”OnTheFacebook-Interface ;-)

    • Stanley says:

      What do you mean you have to activate chat on the facebook interface?

      • Beau says:

        Go to the Facebook website, you should see your Facebook friends on the right. Enable chat by pressing the options button at the bottom, and click “Turn on chat”. Worked for me, buddies appeared in iMessage.

  30. Stephen says:

    It’s August 25, 2015, and Facebook via Jabber still works on Messages.app for me ❤️

  31. Gavyn says:

    For all u guys that say that messenger does not work it still does, we use it at work as our comm platform, if it’s not working check your settings. Cheers!

  32. Yessita says:

    It’s August 12th here, and it doesn’t work for me. Kept saying I got the wrong username and password, but I am able to login from the web using the same username and password.

  33. Alice says:

    It’s 6th August and it’s still working. Yoo hoo!

  34. Happii says:

    Still working here too! :) It’s August now and I’m connected just fine.

  35. RS says:

    still working here :P

  36. Nolan says:

    Still working here!

  37. Bobby says:

    July 16 here … still works.

  38. adam says:

    Just a heads up that FB has appeared to have shut off their XMPP access so they’ve officially closed all their 3rd party access points.

  39. Coengi says:

    https://www.chatformac.com/
    http://www.goofyapp.com/

    these both work for mac? and you can get yourself apps out @app store like “chat for facebook”, and those work all great?

  40. TigerCat says:

    Try a fluid app: http://fluidapp.com
    I have good …
    Settings:
    URL: https://www.messenger.com/
    Name: Messenger (or as you like)
    Location: Application
    Icon: Download what you like, or website icon

  41. JJ says:

    Nice that I don’t have to have FB open in a browser to use messenger. Thanks!

  42. This says:

    This doesn’t work (anymore?). Connection unexpectedly closed, please try again later.

    As mentioned above, facebook have removed this functionality.

  43. viaccess2 says:

    wow i love it
    still working 26 May it is very cool

  44. Vive says:

    I’ve used it but doesn’t work correctly with many participants of the chat. Now I’m using this: http://fbmacmessenger.rsms.me, works perfectly :)

  45. Kevin says:

    Contrary to previous comments, FB hasn’t closed this portal down. It still works as of May 10th.

  46. Kjetil Haugen says:

    Still works nicely as far as I can see.

  47. april j. says:

    if security is a concern of yours, you shouldn’t be using fb chat, anyway! for the love of god, use a messenger with end-to-end-encryption, like adium (otr). (on your idevice, you could be using something like threema or telegram.)

    • Katelyn says:

      My phone is broken right now and I can’t send SMS messages to my friends with android products, to use SMS I would have to have my phone with me so using Facebook messages is necessary for me.

  48. Dee W says:

    This did not work for me.

  49. Ryan says:

    Glad I read the comments before I sat down to do this. I’m new to Mac and was surprised and slightly disappointed to see no Facebook/Instagram app support.

  50. Josh says:

    Good tip, but there are some other (quite possibly, better) options too.

    Standalone Mac app: http://www.goofyapp.com

    Facebook also has a web app that works just as well: https://www.messenger.com/

  51. Dan G. says:

    Unfortunately you can only enjoy this ability for 5 more days. The service is being deprecated on 4/30/2015: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/chat

  52. Joseph says:

    Isn’t this functionality going away on April 30?

    https://developers.facebook.com/docs/apps/changelog

    • doug says:

      Facebook Messenger still works in Messages for me just fine I send Facebook messages through it all the time. It seems like it development was no longer ongoing and no longer supported but it still works fine for messaging on Facebook.

      • Paul says:

        Another option is to use the FB Mac Messenger app, it’s a free download for OS X:

        https://github.com/rsms/fb-mac-messenger

        • Eric Meeks says:

          hi. I think macOS Sierra broke the “Messenger” app… Can someone verify this?

          • GoPokes15! says:

            I just stumbled onto this thread, I’ve tried setting up the internet account in System Preferences and the Messenger app separately and it will not work…I’m running Sierra too. I’ve verified my username with FB and changed the password to ensure everything was set correctly. I tried the url username and the “m.me/” extension the iOS FB Messenger app shows in front of my username. Nothing works.

      • Christi says:

        Thanks for the update Doug. I followed the directions above and didn’t have the same success. I’m running messages Version 9.1 (5085). Which release of messages are you using?

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