Facebook Messenger Replaces Beluga Starting November 11

When the slick group messaging app Beluga was acquired by Facebook back in March, we knew it was only a matter of time before the service would get assimilated and shutdown. Now, we have the official deadline for when still loyal Beluga users will have to make the transition to something else. And that will most likely be Facebook's version of the service, a standalone app launched back in August called Facebook Messenger.

Beluga will stop working starting November 11, but users will still be able to access chat archives. Users have until December 15 to download their archives and pods before the service is completely shutdown. The news comes at the same time that the Facebook Messenger app gets updated with support for 22 languages on iOS, Android, and BlackBerry.

The announcement comes from a post by Beluga's founders, three ex-Googlers Lucy Zhang, Ben Davenport, and Jon Perlow. The service launched back in December 2010 and was purchased only a few months later by Facebook to be integrated with the social network's own messaging system. The standalone Facebook Messenger app has the same core features as Beluga plus integration with Facebook messages and chat.