Facebook Messenger for Mac App in Development: Report

Facebook is building an as-yet-unreleased Facebook Messenger app for Mac desktop that would help Apple users to instantly access it straight from the dock, a media report said.

Instead of getting buried in one of many Web browser tabs that users have to switch to so they can text friends, the dedicated Messenger desktop app would be instantly accessible from the dock present on desktop, TechCrunch reported on Saturday.

The news portal said it has obtained photographic evidence and an eyewitness report that Facebook employees are working on Facebook Messenger for Mac.

According to the eyewitness account and the photo, the app used by the employee included the Messenger logo as the icon in the app dock, and was named Messenger in the menu bar.

In the photo, it can be seen that the employee was working on app that includes a navigation tab bar in the bottom left. It matches the tab bar options in official Messenger for iOS mobile app, including "Recent, Groups, People, and Settings" menu.

The report said unofficial apps for desktop, of which several are available, lack this tab bar that's also seen in the official Messenger for iOS app.

TechCrunch added that sources said the employee was logged into Facebook's "internal portals and VPN", further confirming the screenshots were from an official Messenger for Mac app that's not yet available to the public.

Meanwhile, Facebook responded to TechCrunch's requests for confirmation by saying, "We do not comment on rumour or speculation."

To recall, Facebook launched the Messenger for Web client back in April, with the launch of the Messenger.com website. The social networking giant had previously separated Messenger on Android, iOS and Windows Phone devices from the main Facebook app, and made it mandatory for all users to download the Messenger app to continue to enjoy messaging services on mobile.

Written with inputs from IANS