Windows 10 Mobile users: here's how to get Facebook Messenger right now

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One more big app comes to Windows

Lumia 950

Windows 10 Mobile has been having a hard time and that's largely down to a lack of apps, with both Android and iOS offering millions of apps each, while Windows doesn't even have all the big names.

But you can add one more big name to the list of apps the platform does offer, because, as spotted by MSPowerUser, Facebook Messenger is now available for it.

You can grab the app from the Windows Store, but it's still rolling out and currently seems to only be available in France and Germany, so while the listing is up it may show as unavailable for you.

If so you have two options, you can check back periodically, as it should hopefully be more widely available soon.

Or, as Neowin reports, you can temporarily change the region on your Windows Store account to France or Germany, then once you have the app you can change it back and still freely download it from the My Library section of the store.

The app is still in beta, so it may not be entirely stable, but it looks to be feature-rich, with group messaging, notifications, stickers, GIFs, photos, videos and more all included, so you can finally get the full Facebook chat experience on your Windows phone.

This is great news for existing users of the platform, but is unlikely to make much difference to its fortunes, with the low market share for Windows 10 Mobile ensuring it will continue to be an afterthought for most app developers.

If you've got Facebook, you've got something

Still, it's promising that Facebook continues to engage with the platform at all, even if it takes its time to bring its apps over.

With Instagram and WhatsApp both under the Facebook umbrella too it's one of the single biggest and most important app developers, so as long as Windows 10 Mobile has Facebook's support it's going to have at least some key apps.

What's not clear is whether Facebook is supporting the platform under its own steam or whether Microsoft is making more of a push to get big apps on there.

We've contacted both companies for comment and will update this story when we hear back.

James Rogerson
James Rogerson

James is a freelance phones, tablets and wearables writer and sub-editor at TechRadar. He has a love for everything ‘smart’, from watches to lights, and can often be found arguing with AI assistants or drowning in the latest apps. James also contributes to 3G.co.uk, 4G.co.uk and 5G.co.uk and has written for T3, Digital Camera World, Clarity Media and others, with work on the web, in print and on TV.