Facebook Has Changed Its Messenger Icon to Blue, and Many Want to Know Why

It can be disorienting when one of your most important apps suddenly changes its look. Sometimes, these changes are unintentional, but other times, they are the direct result of branding decisions made by the companies that control them.

Recently, users across various operating systems noticed that their Facebook Messenger apps now featured a blue chat cloud instead of the purple, multi-colored one that had been there previously. Here's what we know about why that change was made:

Meta has not made any official announcement about the change in color, but it's widespread enough that it seems likely it was an update that the company decided to make to Messenger's core branding. The new blue color seems to be part an attempt to bring Meta's various brands under a single umbrella that feels more unified, but it's also a return to the way the Messenger app used to look before it became multi-colored in 2020.

Messenger started as a simple extension of Facebook, and the two apps still work in concert. In recent years, though, many people who barely use Facebook have continued to use Messenger while the rest of their Facebook account lies dormant. Now, though, it seems Meta wants to remind people about the connection between the two app and encourage even more firm integration between them.

We don't know whether Meta views this change as permanent, or whether it's part of an evolution that could eventually include additional changes. While the change might be jarring to some users, it's also a good reminder that Meta is ultimately the one in control of these apps, and as a result, they can change the branding however they want, whenever they want, and they don't need user approval to do so.

Although Meta hasn't offered much of an explanation for the change, plenty of Messenger users were upset to discover that the color had shifted.

"Meta goes on a mission to become a 'more masculine space' and suddenly the Messenger app is blue," one person wrote on X.

"I hate that they took the purple out of the messenger app icon……bc of woke……." another person added.

"I viscerly [sic] dislike the Facebook blue that the Messenger app got changed to! Like I want to take the time to learn to code it back to purple. It just looks ugly and basic now smh," a third said.

Clearly, then, people are not into the new color, although it remains to be seen whether that will lead people to use the app less, or what it might mean about user behavior.

What's clear, though, is that Meta wanted Messenger to be more closely associated with Facebook. What they might not have anticipated, though, was that change makes some people remember how much they dislike Facebook, and decide to forego using both apps altogether. That's just one possibility, though. In all likelihood, the change won't impact all that much user behavior.