How to Log out of Facebook Messenger

So you've scoured every tab on Facebook's Messenger app looking for a logout option with no luck. What gives?

For whatever reason, Facebook has designed its Messenger app so that you can't log out of it — at least not with a direct logout option available within the app. There are, however, a few tricks you can use to disconnect your account from the Messenger app (which is essentially the equivalent of logging out) without having to delete the app from your device.

These instructions cover how to sign out of Messenger that's logged in from an Android or iOS device.

Log out From Messenger via Android Settings

Illustration of a person looking to logout of Facebook messenger — Colleen Tighe / Lifewire

Android users have an advantage over iOS users thanks to the app settings they have available to them. With this particular method, you don't even need to access the official Facebook app or Messenger app because everything can be done from within your app settings.

This process should work equally well on Android devices from Samsung, Google, HTC, etc.

Open the Settings app.
Select Apps & notifications.
Choose See all <#> apps. Scroll down and tap Messenger. (The app are in alphabetical order)
Select Storage & cache.
Tap Clear storage.
Confirm with OK. Now you can close your Settings app and return to the Messenger app to verify that it worked.

Log out From Messenger via the Facebook App

Unfortunately for iOS device users, the above method outlined for Android doesn't work on an iPhone or iPad. Despite being able to access iOS device settings and select Messenger from the list of apps in a similar way to Android, there are no storage settings to play around with in the Messenger app settings for iOS.

As a result, your only other option for logging out of Messenger from an iOS device is to use the official Facebook app. If you only use Messenger and not Facebook itself on your device, you're going to need to download and install the Facebook app first.

The following method also works on the Facebook Android app.

Open the Facebook app and sign into the corresponding account that you want to disconnect from Messenger.
Tap the menu option (represented by the hamburger icon located at the bottom of the screen from the home feed tab on iOS and at the top of the screen on Android).
Scroll down and tap Settings & Privacy > Settings.
Tap Security and Login.
Under the section labeled Where You're Logged In, you'll see a list of all the devices and their locations where Facebook remembers you're login details. Your device name (such as iPhone, iPad, Android, etc.) will be listed in bold wording with the Messenger platform labeled beneath it.
If you don't see your device name with the Messenger label beneath it right away, you may need to tap See all to reveal more devices and platforms where you're logged in.
Tap the three dots to the right of the device you want to log out from, and then select Log Out. It will disappear from the list and you'll be able to open the Messenger app to confirm that your account has been disconnected/logged out.

Log out From Messenger via Facebook.Com

If you don't want to go through the hassle of downloading the Facebook app to your Android or iOS device, you can log into Facebook.com from a web browser and disconnect your account from Messenger this way. The steps are very similar to doing it via the Facebook mobile app.

Visit Facebook.com and sign into the corresponding account that you want to disconnect from Messenger.
Click the down arrow in the top right corner of the page and click Settings & Privacy > Settings from the drop-down menu.
Click Security and Login from the sidebar menu.
Under the the section labeled Where You're Logged In, look for the name of your device (iPhone, iPad, Android, etc.) and the Messenger label beneath it.
Tap the three dots on the right of a Messenger listing and select Log Out. Just like on the Facebook app, your listing will disappear and you can return to your device to confirm that you've been disconnected/logged out from the Messenger app.

To confirm that you've been logged out of Messenger, simply open the Messenger app. Instead of seeing your most recent messages, you should see a screen asking you to sign in with your Facebook login details.