Frequently asked questions for Chat removal

<div class="col-md-9">
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
We are deprecating Chat and helping legacy Chat customers
migrate to messaging over the
next 18 months. Messaging is the only option for new customers,
and legacy Chat
customers have been encouraged to migrate voluntarily over
the past few years. The
majority of Zendesk’s successful customers are already using
messaging, which allows
them to access the full power of Zendesk AI, including
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4409149119514">omnichannel routing</a>,
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4964463770650">intelligent triage</a>,
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8966284087066">AI agents</a>,
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/5524125586330">Copilot</a>,
and more.
</p>
<p class="p">This article addresses the following questions:</p>
<ul class="ul" id="chat_removal_faq__topic_chat_eol_faq_ul_chat_eol_faq_questions">
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_qbp_n1y_2kc">What’s happening?</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_gck_m1y_2kc">What does Chat removal mean?</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_k32_l1y_2kc">What’s the plan?</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_vyy_j1y_2kc">What’s the timeline?</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_fgc_h1y_2kc">Will I lose the functionality of a live chat experience?</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_yx1_11y_2kc">Migration sounds overwhelming. What should I do?</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_mpq_yzx_2kc">What happens if I don’t migrate?</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_ppw_szx_2kc">I’m ineligible to migrate. What should I do?</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="#topic_hdk_q1y_2kc">Resources</a>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title2" class="topic nested1" id="topic_qbp_n1y_2kc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title2">What’s happening?</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
At Zendesk, it is our mission to power exceptional customer
and employee experiences
for every person on the planet. In the last two years,
this mission has driven our
singular focus on AI-powered service, leading us to launch
the Zendesk Resolution
Platform.
</p>
<p class="p">
As a part of this focus on AI-powered service, we have
decided to deprecate Zendesk
Chat, which does not support Zendesk AI and has not received
feature enhancements
since 2020. It is currently in maintenance mode.
</p>
<p class="p">
Instead, we have spent the last six years focusing our
development efforts on
messaging, which is the key to unlocking the full potential
of Zendesk AI, including
AI agents, Copilot, social messaging capabilities, and
more.
</p>
<p class="p">
This change allows us to focus more deeply on what we
do best, helping businesses
like yours deliver exceptional customer and employee
service. With messaging, your
teams can deliver faster, more accurate, and efficient
customer service to every
single customer who reaches out.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title3" class="topic nested1" id="topic_gck_m1y_2kc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title3">What does Chat removal mean?</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
We are sunsetting Chat products over the course of 18
months, which allows customers
to adopt Zendesk AI and receive the latest and greatest
Zendesk experiences.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title4" class="topic nested1" id="topic_k32_l1y_2kc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title4">What’s the plan?</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
Zendesk is helping customers migrate in groups based
on their account complexity. If
you have a dedicated CSM, they will provide you with
resources and best practices to
help you migrate. If you don’t have a CSM, you can migrate
voluntarily, or the
Zendesk product team will schedule a migration for you.
You will be notified of this
migration with in-product banners, notifications, and
a personalized migration
tracker to make sure your migration is successful.
</p>
<p class="p">
If you are ineligible for migration, you will be notified
separately. From there, you
can upgrade to Agent Workspace and messaging or you may
choose to terminate your
live messaging experience with Zendesk.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title5" class="topic nested1" id="topic_vyy_j1y_2kc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title5">What’s the timeline?</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
Chat will sunset at the end of January 2028, approximately
18 months since its
announcement on August 4, 2026. Chat’s deprecation began
in 2020 when it stopped
receiving feature enhancements, and it’s been in maintenance
mode since then. You
may migrate to messaging voluntarily at any time, or
you will receive in-product
notifications of your assisted, batched migration if
you choose to wait. Zendesk
recommends preparing for your migration, even if you
opt for the assisted migration.
Review the
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10837219795226">messaging migration hub</a>,
which contains
webinars, decks, and the messaging implementation guides
to make your migration
seamless.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title6" class="topic nested1" id="topic_fgc_h1y_2kc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title6">Will I lose the functionality of a live chat experience?</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
No. Messaging is flexible, and you can customize your
instance to be exactly what you
want, including live (synchronous) conversations, asynchronous
conversations, or a
combination of both.
</p>
<p class="p">
Additionally, you can recreate a similar Chat experience
on messaging, while also
accessing new features, streamlining your workflows,
and adding on AI.
</p>
<p class="p">
<strong class="ph b">What are the advantages of messaging?</strong>
</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_fgc_h1y_2kc__ul_kc5_31y_2kc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Messaging allows you to access <a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/8966284087066">Zendesk AI</a></strong>,
enabling your
teams to be efficient, accurate, and fast. Migrating
to messaging future proofs
your Zendesk instance.
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Messaging encompasses the best of Zendesk’s offerings</strong>.
It has the newest
features available and new innovations coming, including
audio player,
re-engagement on WhatsApp, as well as proactive messaging
features, like
targeted campaigns.
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Messaging allows multiple, persistent conversation styles</strong>,
enabling your
customers to continue their conversation on a different
device or channel at a
later time, rather than having to initiate a brand
new chat and repeat
themselves to a different agent.
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Messaging captures every customer conversation</strong>
regardless of agent
availability and can be handled by an AI agent or
a human agent when available,
so there are no more missed chats.
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title7" class="topic nested1" id="topic_yx1_11y_2kc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title7">Migration sounds overwhelming. What should I do?</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
We know migration can feel like a big change, so we’re
focused on making the move to
messaging as simple and supported as possible. With streamlined
setup, guided
workflows, and automation that handles key configuration
steps for you, we want to
help your team spend less time managing the transition
and more time delivering
better customer experiences. Access our
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10837219795226">messaging migration hub</a>
with resources to
help you transition, and find our guided workflow in-product
in
<strong class="ph b">Admin Center &gt;
Channels &gt; Messaging &gt; Messaging settings</strong>.
</p>
<p class="p">
<strong class="ph b">What is Zendesk doing to make migration easy?</strong>
</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_yx1_11y_2kc__ul_fxn_21y_2kc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Settings migration:</strong>
When you’re ready to get started, you can initiate
a
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/9435865466906-Migrating-your-live-chat-widget-to-the-messaging-Web-Widget">voluntary migration</a>
and move your Chat
settings and feature configurations to messaging
on demand. As part of the
migration experience, Zendesk will help automate
important setup steps,
including messaging routing workflows and offline
ticket handling, so you can
preserve key parts of your existing Chat experience
while moving to a more
modern messaging solution. The migration setup adapts
to each account's history
to ensure data integrity:
<ul class="ul" id="topic_yx1_11y_2kc__ul_gxn_21y_2kc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">First-time migrations</strong>:
Full step-by-step walkthrough of the
transition.
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Legacy reverts</strong>:
For accounts that migrated previously and
reverted, successful settings are preserved
and friction points from the
previous attempt are resolved, so you can
pick up where you left
off.
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">24/7 migration support:</strong>
For customers who do not have a dedicated account
team, the messaging Migration setup assistant can
provide 24/7, context-aware
migration guidance directly in the product, helping
answer setup questions and
reduce configuration friction based on your messaging
workflows. This function
of the Migration setup assistant will be specifically
engineered to aid in Chat
to messaging migrations.
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Notifications to stay on track:</strong>
As your account approaches key migration
milestones, you’ll receive in-product notifications
to point you to the right
resources, steps, and support options to help you
stay on track.
</li>
</ul>
<p class="p">
<strong class="ph b">What else?</strong>
</p>
<ul class="ul" id="topic_yx1_11y_2kc__ul_wr3_f1y_2kc">
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Professional services:</strong>
If you prefer not to handle the migration
yourself, our professional services team can assist
you. Reach out to your
account executive or CSM to discuss scope and pricing.
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Migration webinars:</strong>
Zendesk is leading a series of migration webinars,
free to watch. We’ll use these to teach customers
best practices for migration.
See the schedule below and an existing, standalone
Chat-to-messaging webinar
<a class="xref" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6o8db-iH98&amp;list=PLb00xo9zloI61rN96PRybWoO_xx5ozmbD">here</a>.
<ul class="ul" id="topic_yx1_11y_2kc__ul_xr3_f1y_2kc">
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://zendesk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_o-OzBemDT6SIc12eKcr01A">LATAM - August 18, 2026, 3pm
BRT</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://zendesk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rP6appJjS0-AmEtrk4e_ZA">EMEA - August 20, 2026, 10am
BST</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://zendesk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_w1rrL_IwSMiIFTtMBBtZhg">APAC - August 25, 2026, 3pm
AEST</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://zendesk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wjKmQ0U0RqG_J1svLrqz0Q">AMER - August 25, 2026, 12pm
CDT</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="li">
<strong class="ph b">Customer readiness assessment:</strong>
We’re also offering additional ways to
support customers who need more guidance. Some customers
may be asked to
complete a migration readiness survey so we can better
understand where they are
in the process, identify any blockers, and help connect
them with the right next
step.
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title8" class="topic nested1" id="topic_mpq_yzx_2kc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title8">What happens if I don’t migrate?</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
If you don’t voluntarily migrate, Zendesk will migrate
your instance automatically.
You will see in-product banners 60 days in advance so
that you can prepare. If you
opt to wait for the automatic migration, we highly recommend
that you prepare your
teams and your instance for migration to ensure you retain
workflows you value. The
assisted migration period begins in September 2026, and
Chat will fully deprecate in
January 2028.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title9" class="topic nested1" id="topic_ppw_szx_2kc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title9">I’m ineligible to migrate. What should I do?</h2>
<div class="body">
<p class="p">
We’d love for you to upgrade to Zendesk Suite. Then,
you’d be able to migrate to
messaging automatically or configure an entirely new
instance. If not, you’ll lose
all access to Chat in January 2028, when the product
is deprecated.
</p>
</div>
</div>
<div aria-labelledby="ariaid-title10" class="topic nested1" id="topic_hdk_q1y_2kc">
<h2 class="title topictitle2" id="ariaid-title10">Resources</h2>
<div class="body">
<ul class="ul" id="topic_hdk_q1y_2kc__topic_resources_ul_resources">
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/10837219795226">Messaging migration hub</a>
(includes
messaging migration implementation guide)
</li>
<li class="li">
Existing how-to webinar:
<a class="xref" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6o8db-iH98&amp;list=PLb00xo9zloI61rN96PRybWoO_xx5ozmbD">Chat to messaging migration
webinar</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
Upcoming regional webinars:
<ul class="ul" id="topic_hdk_q1y_2kc__topic_resources_ul_regional_webinars">
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://zendesk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_o-OzBemDT6SIc12eKcr01A">LATAM - August 18, 2026, 3pm
BRT</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://zendesk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_rP6appJjS0-AmEtrk4e_ZA">EMEA - August 20, 2026, 10am
BST</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://zendesk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_w1rrL_IwSMiIFTtMBBtZhg">APAC - August 25, 2026, 3pm
AEST</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://zendesk.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_wjKmQ0U0RqG_J1svLrqz0Q">AMER - August 25, 2026, 12pm
CDT</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li class="li">
Best practices:
<a class="xref" href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1BphEF0AQUQojauDOONgTUvY0kccReRcsYTlXwRJHffI/edit?usp=sharing">Chat to messaging migration deck</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
Best practices:
<a class="xref" href="https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1BphEF0AQUQojauDOONgTUvY0kccReRcsYTlXwRJHffI/edit?slide=id.g3787bf7934c_0_1939#slide=id.g3787bf7934c_0_1939">Chat to messaging migration map</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
Examples: Chat to messaging migration customer stories
<ul class="ul" id="topic_hdk_q1y_2kc__topic_resources_ul_customer_stories">
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://www.zendesk.com/customer/neon-one/">Neon One</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://www.zendesk.com/customer/techsmith/">TechSmith</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://www.zendesk.com/customer/accent-group-messaging/">Accent Group</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://www.zendesk.com/customer/twinspires/">TwinSpires</a>
</li>
<li class="li">
<a class="xref" href="https://www.zendesk.com/customer/classpass-msg/">ClassPass</a>
</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
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