Are you seeing a “This person is unavailable on Messenger” message in the inbox on Facebook Messenger? This message means that you cannot contact the selected person. Listed below are some possible reasons that may cause this message to appear. We’ll also discuss what you can do about it.
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 error for more than one contact. So check your other contacts’ messages to see if the error 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 might have deactivated their Facebook or Messenger account, or their account has been 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 still available. 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 suspended. If they have deactivated it, you can only contact them if they reactivate it. If Facebook has banned their account, the user may have to create a new 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 for whom this error appears? If so, your guess is correct—the person has blocked you. When someone blocks another user, Facebook restricts all communication with them and displays a “This person is unavailable on Messenger” 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 error in your inbox will automatically disappear.
Know the Cause of the “This Person Is Unavailable on Messenger” Error
It is hopefully now clear to you why this annoying message appears in your inbox and prevents you from chatting with your friends. Through our tips, you will also be able to find the main cause of this problem.
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.
