How to Log Out of Facebook Messenger

Escape from the Messenger app with these easy tricks

by Elise Moreau
Elise Moreau is a writer that has covered social media, texting, messaging, and streaming for Lifewire and previously About.com, since 2011.
Updated November 09, 2019

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.

Here are the three main ways you can effectively log out of the Messenger app on your Android or iOS device.

Log Out from Messenger on Your Android Device

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

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.

  1. Tap the Settings app to access your Android device's settings.

  2. Scroll down and tap the Apps option.

  3. Scroll through the list of apps you have installed until you see Messenger and tap it.

    Screenshot of Settings, Apps, Messenger buttons in Android

  4. Now that you're on the App Info tab for Messenger, you can tap the Storage option.

    Screenshots showing Messenger Storage and Clear Data buttons on Android

  5. Beneath the list of storage details, tap the Clear Data button.

That's it. Now you can close your Settings app and return to the Messenger app to see if it worked. If you followed all the steps described above, you should find that your account was successfully disconnected (logged out) from Messenger.

Log Out from Messenger on Your iOS or Android Device from 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 it first.

The following method also works on the Facebook Android app if you'd prefer to sign out of Messenger for Android this way as an alternative to the method outlined above.

  1. Open the Facebook app on your device and sign into the corresponding account that you want to disconnect from Messenger.

  2. 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).

  3. Scroll down and tap Settings & Privacey > Settings.

  4. Tap Security and Login.

    Three iOS screens showing Facebook app manu, Settings & Privacy, and Security and Login

  5. 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.

  6. If you don't see your device name with the Messenger label beneath it right away, you may need to tap See More to reveal more devices and platforms where you're logged in.

    Three iOS screens from Facebook app showing See More, iPad Air 2, and Log Out buttons

  7. Tap the three dots to the left of the device + Messenger listing and select Log Out. The listing will disappear from the list of places where you're logged in and you'll be able to open the Messenger app to confirm that your account has been disconnected/logged out.

Log Out from Messenger on Your iOS or Android Device From Facebook.com

If you don't want to go through the hassle of downloading the Facebook app to your device because you don't have it installed already, you can simply 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.

  1. Visit Facebook.com in a web browser and sign into the corresponding account that you want to disconnect from Messenger.

  2. Click the down arrow in the top right corner of the page and select Settings from the dropdown menu.

    Screenshot of Facebook Settings button

  3. Click Security and Login from the sidebar menu.

  4. 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.

    Screenshot of device to log out of Facebook Messenger

  5. Tap the three dots to the left of the device + 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.