Legacy chat retirement (Messaging for In-App and Web)

Salesforce will retire legacy Chat products (LiveAgent, Salesforce Chat, Embedded Chat, and Service Chat) on February 14, 2026. Below are the editions affected by this retirement.   We can continue using current Chat services and implementations through the announced retirement date. However, all customers will need to migrate to our new Messaging for In-App and Web service before the announced retirement date.   

Why is Salesforce retiring Chat?

In Summer ’22, Salesforce released a new first-party chat product and feature set. Messaging for In-App and Web, the new product, is built on Hyperforce and offers many of the Chat features that customers love. It also supports asynchronous and persistent conversations that can be picked back up at any time.   

What’s Messaging for In-App and Web?

Messaging for In-App and Web provides customers with a personalized messaging experience from your mobile app or website to the Service Console.

A customer requests a messaging conversation and provides contact info and other details in a pre-chat form. Their form-field inputs travel in your new Messaging channel and are mapped as parameters. The flow you set helps define where the inputs go, such as an email address or an order number. An agent connects and is ready to help with specific information at their fingertips. Optionally, a new Salesforce record can be created or updated as part of your enhanced flow.

“Chat was session-based, which meant that conversations ended when your customer closed the conversation window or lost connection with an agent. Messaging conversation history remains in the window beyond a single interaction.

With Messaging for In-App and Web, agents and customers can start and stop the conversation, then pick it back up at a later time. Customers can also message across tabs and devices without disconnecting the conversation.” 

Need to follow the four stages of setup in order.

Considerations when Replacing Chat with Messaging for In-App and Web

Messaging for In-App and Web, a modernized alternative that offers an asynchronous, persistent conversation experience with your customers.

Messaging for In-App and Web offers the same features that present in chat, plus some key improvements:

1. Asynchronous and persistent conversations can happen across devices and be picked back up at any time.
2. An API lets you delete data.
3. Individual-Object Linking (which replaced Channel-Object Linking by moving the functionality to flows) offers a flow template for messaging sessions.
4. Admins can create a library of messaging components that agents use to send structured content to customers in messaging sessions. Components can include links, questions with options, secure forms, and time selectors.
5. Conversation intelligence rules automatically notify supervisors or agents in real time when a customer uses a flagged keyword in a messaging session.
6. Omni-Channel flow-based routing provides more flexibility, such as routing directly to an agent.
7. Route conversations to and from enhanced bots that allow rich text and attachments.
8. Business Hours let you hide the messaging window when your agents aren’t working.
9. Customers see an Estimated Wait Time letting them know how long before they’re connected to an agent.
10. Customers see auto-responses letting them know when a conversation starts or ends, when an agent has joined, and more.
11. Customers can see read and delivery receipts.
12. Agents can send outbound file attachments.
13. Customers can send emoji.
14. Customers can search messaging history.
15. Messaging for Web can be added to Build Your Own (LWR) and Microsite (LWR) Experience Site templates, and to B2B and B2B2C Commerce templates.
16. Messaging for In-App can send push notifications to customers.

Compare Messaging for In-App and Web Capabilities to Chat Capabilities

https://help.salesforce.com/s/articleView?id=sf.miaw_chat_vs_messaging.htm&type=5 covers all the detailed feature comparision. The below pictures give us comparision of frequently used chat features.

Alternative Solutions for Chat Features – not Available in Messaging for In-App and Web

Planning to replace Chat with Messaging for In-App and Web, but don’t see a Chat feature available in Messaging? Review this list of alternative solutions.  

Next steps –Migration Strategy

We need to work with Salesforce Account manager to start planning the migration to Messaging for In-App and Web.

After deciding on the migration time schedule, – need to implement phase-by-phase migration in lower sandbox (Dev or UAT) to make sure all the customization and functional requirements work perfectly with the new product too.