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The Facebook chat can be used both on the website and with XMPP, for instance with Pidgin. I want to use only the latter option. Now when I visit facebook.com to look at my newsfeed, I am bothered with chat windows popping up and the message counter informing me about new messages.

As of late, it is not possible anymore, to simply go offline in the chat on the website. You can, however, deactivate the chat. This has three major drawbacks:

  1. Every time you log back into facebook.com, you're back online.
  2. Some time after deactivating the chat, people that are online, are not shown as online in Pidgin.
  3. The new message notifications (the red numbers on the top) are still displayed, even if I've read the messages in Pidgin.

There is a workaround for the first problem: Deactivate the chat for everybody, except for one friend who is never online. But the two other problems persist.

Is there a method or plugin to deactivate Facebook chat on the website permanentaly or hide everything (chat windows, new message notifications) from the user without breaking XMPP?

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  • Why the downvote, what's wrong with the question?
    – frankundfrei
    Dec 3, 2014 at 11:30

2 Answers 2

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One can mute a conversation and that will keep chat tabs from popping up on your Facebook page and will also turn off push notifications on your mobile as well. In short, you won't get any alerts or notifications whenever a new reply is written.

You will still be able to see your friend's responses. Just view your inbox and you should be able to find the muted conversation.

To mute a conversation, click the Option button, which can be found between the “Video Chat” (or "Add People" icon) and “Close” button. When you click the "Option" button, a drop-down menu will appear. Find the “Mute Conversation” option and you will not receive any more messages from that person. Here's a sample screenshot:

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source

You could also use the free extension F.B. Purity :

F.B. Purity adds options to hide both the new FB Chat interface and also the "News Ticker" aka the "Happening Now" sidebar, which is the box of constantly scrolling news in the top righthand side corner of your page.

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  • Only drawback I can see right now is that I am still shown as online when I use the page and not logged into Pidgin. Works pretty well otherwise.
    – frankundfrei
    Dec 6, 2014 at 15:53
  • It seems like pidgin can still send & receive messages when your facebook status is offline (see this).
    – harrymc
    Dec 6, 2014 at 16:13
  • Right after deactivating the facebook chat everything works fine for some time. But then all my friends are shown as offline. When I go back online on the website they are shown as online but only show up as online in Pidgin after some time. Sending and receiving messages always worked, though.
    – frankundfrei
    Dec 6, 2014 at 16:45
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I think you need to use some sort of browser extension to hide the chat.

Maybe Social Fixer add-on can do that for you: http://socialfixer.com It's the most advanced one I know

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  • I updated my question to make it clearer. Your answer fixes the first problem but unfortunatly not the other two.
    – frankundfrei
    Dec 4, 2014 at 10:09
  • Now I see! Google solved this problem for Google Talk/Hangout: you can use pidgin and you can sign out from web-interface to Talk/Hangout. Facebook does not provide this feature, it always behaved like you describe.
    – LukasT
    Dec 4, 2014 at 10:19
  • I guess then the only option is to somehow hide the chat features. Or not to waste as much time looking on my newsfeed...
    – frankundfrei
    Dec 4, 2014 at 10:25

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