In this article, we’ll discuss why this message appears and how you can fix it to contact your friend again.
Causes and Fixes for the “This Person Is Unavailable on Messenger” Message
Below are some possible causes of the “This person is unavailable on Messenger” message, along with solutions:
1. Facebook Might Be Experiencing Technical Difficulties
Facebook may have a technical issue that caused the message to appear in your inbox. If this is the case, you should see this message in the inbox of more than one contact. Hence, check your other contacts’ inboxes to see if the message also appears there.
If it does, go to Facebook’s official Twitter account and see if Facebook has reported any issues.
You can also check if Facebook is having technical problems by going to the Downdetector website, which monitors real-time problems and outages on apps and websites. Simply go to the website, type “Facebook” into the search bar in the top-right corner, and hit Enter.
The website will show you a graph of Facebook outages reported by other users in the last 24 hours.
If the number of reported issues exceeds thousands, the problem is probably on the backend. If the problem comes from the backend, you’ll have to wait for Facebook to fix it, and then you’ll be able to chat again with your contact. However, if it’s only affecting a single contact and Facebook hasn’t reported any technical problems, ensure the person’s account is intact.
2. The Person’s Account No Longer Exists
It is possible the person you are unable to contact has deactivated their Facebook or Messenger account or their account is terminated by Facebook. Since the account no longer exists, Facebook displays this message to indicate the person is no longer available. Therefore, you cannot chat with them.
To rule out this possibility, you must ensure the account of the person you’re attempting to contact is intact. For that, get in touch with one of your mutual Facebook friends and ask them to check the person’s account. Alternatively, you can create an anonymous Facebook profile and search for your friend’s account yourself.
If the person’s account no longer exists, they have either deactivated their account or got it suspended. If they have deactivated it, you can only contact them if they reactivate it. The user may have to create a new account if Facebook has banned their account.
However, if your mutual friend verifies that the person’s account is accessible from their end, confirming it exists, you should ensure you haven’t been blocked.
3. The Person Has Blocked You
Can you recall a harsh conversation with the person in whose inbox this message appears? If so, your guess is correct—the person has blocked you. When someone blocks another user, Facebook restricts all communication with them. This may explain why you’re seeing this message.
To confirm this, use the Facebook search bar to find your friend’s account. If the account doesn’t appear in your search results but it does in your mutual friend’s searches, you have been blocked. We have an article explaining several other ways to confirm that someone has blocked you on Facebook.
If you’re blocked, there isn’t much you can do until the person unblocks you. Once the person unblocks you, this annoying message in your inbox will automatically disappear.
Get Rid of the “This Person Is Unavailable on Messenger” Message
It is hopefully now clear to you why this annoying message appears in your inbox and prevents you from chatting with your friends. Additionally, our tips will help you identify the root cause and fix the issue.
Facebook Messenger offers excellent features to make your communication memorable, but not everyone knows about them. Have you ever shared your location with Messenger or nicknamed a loved one? If not, perhaps, you haven’t explored all the features yet.
