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Messenger for Desktop 2

UNMAINTAINED -- Caprine is a nice alternative

OS X build Windows build Linux builds Downloads total Services status Join the chat

A simple & beautiful desktop client for Facebook Messenger. Chat without distractions on OS X, Windows and Linux. Not affiliated with Facebook. This is NOT an official product.

@devs: If you're willing to help improve, fix or maintain the app, I can make you a collaborator to help me. Join me on Gitter and let's chat!

Sponsors

BrowserStack

Thanks!

Features ⭐

  • Themes & Mini Mode
  • Native Notifications (with reply on OS X)
  • Spell Checker & Auto Correct
  • Support for Facebook for Work
  • Keyboard Shortcuts
  • Launch on OS startup
  • Automatic Updates

How to install

Note: If you download from the releases page, be careful what version you pick. Releases that end with -beta are beta releases, the ones that end with -dev are development releases, and the rest are stable. If you're unsure which to pick, opt for stable. Once you download the app, you'll be able to switch to another channel from the menu.

  • dev: these releases get the newest and hottest features, but they are less tested and might break things
  • beta: these releases are the right balance between getting new features early while staying away from nasty bugs
  • stable: these releases are more thoroughly tested; they receive new features later, but there's a lower chance that things will go wrong

If you want to help me make Messenger for Desktop better, I recommend dev or beta. Let's go!

OS X

DMG or zip:

  1. Download messengerfordesktop-x.x.x-osx.dmg or messengerfordesktop-x.x.x-osx.zip
  2. Open or unzip the file and drag the app into the Applications folder
  3. Done! The app will update automatically

Using brew:

  1. Run brew cask install messenger-for-desktop in your terminal
  2. The app will be installed in your Applications
  3. Done! The app will update automatically (you can also use brew)

Windows

Installer (recommended):

  1. Download messengerfordesktop-x.x.x-win32-nsis.exe
  2. Run the installer, wait until it finishes
  3. Done! The app will update automatically

Portable:

  1. Download messengerfordesktop-x.x.x-win32-portable.zip
  2. Extract the zip wherever you want (e.g. a flash drive) and run the app from there
  3. Done! The app will NOT update automatically, but you can still check for updates

Linux

Ubuntu, Debian 8+ (deb package):

  1. Download messengerfordesktop-x.x.x-linux-arch.deb
  2. Double click and install, or run dpkg -i messengerfordesktop-x.x.x-linux-arch.deb in the terminal
  3. Start the app with your app launcher or by running messengerfordesktop in a terminal
  4. Done! The app will NOT update automatically, but you can still check for updates

You can also use apt-get (recommended):

# Download my gpg key to make sure the deb you download is correct
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver pool.sks-keyservers.net --recv 6DDA23616E3FE905FFDA152AE61DA9241537994D

# Add my repository to your sources list (skip if you've done this already)
# Replace <channel> with stable, beta or dev (pick stable if you're unsure)
echo "deb https://dl.bintray.com/aluxian/deb/ <channel> main" |
  sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/aluxian.list

# Install Messenger for Desktop
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install messengerfordesktop

Fedora, CentOS, Red Hat (RPM package):

  1. Download messengerfordesktop-x.x.x-linux-arch.rpm
  2. Double click and install, or run rpm -ivh messengerfordesktop-x.x.x-linux-arch.rpm in the terminal
  3. Start the app with your app launcher or by running messengerfordesktop in a terminal
  4. Done! The app will NOT update automatically, but you can still check for updates

You can also use yum (recommended):

# Add my repository to your repos list (skip if you've done this already)
sudo wget https://bintray.com/aluxian/rpm/rpm -O /etc/yum.repos.d/bintray-aluxian-rpm.repo

# Install Messenger for Desktop
sudo yum install messengerfordesktop.i386     # for 32-bit distros
sudo yum install messengerfordesktop.x86_64   # for 64-bit distros

Arch Linux (AUR):

  1. Simply run yaourt -S messengerfordesktop
  2. Start the app with your app launcher or by running messengerfordesktop in a terminal
  3. Done! The app will NOT update automatically, but you can still check for updates

Repository URL: https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/messengerfordesktop/

For Developers

Contributions are welcome! Please help me make Messenger for Desktop the best app for Facebook Messenger. For feature requests and bug reports please submit an issue or get in touch with me on Gitter or Twitter @aluxian.

Build

Note: for some tasks, a GitHub access token might be required (if you get errors, make sure you have this token). After you generate it (see here if you need help; repo permissions are enough), set it as an env var:

  • Unix: export GITHUB_TOKEN=123
  • Windows: set GITHUB_TOKEN=123

Install pre-requisites

If you want to build deb and rpm packages for Linux, you also need fpm. To install it on OS X:

sudo gem install fpm
brew install rpm

Install dependencies

Global dependencies:

npm install -g gulp

Local dependencies:

npm install
cd src && npm install

Native modules

The app uses native modules. Make sure you rebuild the modules before building the app:

gulp rebuild:<32|64>

Build and watch

During development you can use the watch tasks, which have live reload. As you edit files in ./src, they will be re-compiled and moved into the build folder:

gulp watch:<darwin64|linux32|linux64|win32>

If you want to build it just one time, use build:

gulp build:<darwin64|linux32|linux64|win32>

For production builds, set NODE_ENV=production or use the --prod flag. Production builds don't include dev modules.

gulp build:<darwin64|linux32|linux64|win32> --prod
NODE_ENV=production gulp build:<darwin64|linux32|linux64|win32>

To see detailed logs, run every gulp task with the --verbose flag.

If you don't specify a platform when running a task, the task will run for the current platform.

App debug logs

To see debug messages while running the app, set the DEBUG env var. This will print logs from the main process.

export DEBUG=messengerfordesktop:*

To open the webview dev tools, type this in the main dev tools console:

wv.openDevTools();

If you want to automatically open the webview dev tools, use:

localStorage.autoLaunchDevTools = true; // on
localStorage.removeItem('autoLaunchDevTools'); // off

Pack

OS X

You'll need to set these env vars:

SIGN_DARWIN_IDENTITY
SIGN_DARWIN_KEYCHAIN_NAME
SIGN_DARWIN_KEYCHAIN_PASSWORD

Pack the app in a neat .dmg:

gulp pack:darwin64:<dmg:zip> [--prod]

This uses node-appdmg which works only on OS X machines.

Windows

You'll need to set these env vars:

SIGNTOOL_PATH=
SIGN_WIN_CERTIFICATE_FILE=
SIGN_WIN_CERTIFICATE_PASSWORD=

Create an installer. This will also sign every executable inside the app, and the setup exe itself:

gulp pack:win32:installer [--prod]

Or, if you prefer, create a portable zip. This will also sign the executable:

gulp pack:win32:portable [--prod]

These tasks only work on Windows machines due to their dependencies: Squirrel.Windows and Microsoft's SignTool.

Linux

Create deb/rpm packages:

gulp pack:<linux32|linux64>:<deb|rpm> [--prod]

Make sure you've installed fpm.

Release flow

develop -> staging -> deploy -> master

  1. All work is done on branch develop. Every push to develop will make the CIs run code linting and other checks.
  2. In order to build, push to staging. Every push to staging will make the CIs build the app and upload it to Bintray at aluxian/artifacts, available for testing.
  3. After a version is tested and is ready for release, push it to deploy. This will rebuild the app and upload it to GitHub, Bintray and other repositories.
  4. Now, the code is ready to be merged into master.