What is the Zendesk messaging app? A 2025 guide

So, you've made the switch from Zendesk's classic Live Chat to their new Messaging feature, and... it feels a bit weird, right?

If you feel like you've taken a step backward and lost some control, you're definitely not alone. A quick look at any support forum shows a lot of teams are in the same boat.

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This change is more than just a new chat widget; it's a move toward ongoing, AI-friendly conversations. The only problem is, the tools Zendesk gives you out of the box don't always deliver on that vision.

Let's break down what the Zendesk messaging app actually is, what it can and can't do, and how you can get it to work the way you hoped it would.

What is the Zendesk messaging app?

Zendesk Messaging is a big change in how you talk to customers. It’s about shifting away from old-school, one-and-done chats and moving toward a continuous conversation that feels more natural, like a text thread.

The Zendesk messaging app: From live chat to asynchronous conversations

The biggest mental hurdle to get over is the move from session-based chats to ongoing, asynchronous ones.

Think of the classic live chat like a phone call. The conversation happens, and when one person hangs up, the session is over. If the customer thinks of another question two minutes later, they have to start all over again from the beginning.

Asynchronous messaging is more like texting with a friend. The conversation history is always there, and you can both pop in and out whenever it's convenient. For your customers, this means they don’t have to sit around in a queue to ask a quick question. For your agents, it means they can juggle multiple conversations without feeling the pressure to respond instantly to every single message.

The Zendesk messaging app vs. the Zendesk chat app

Here’s something that trips a lot of people up. If you search for "Zendesk Chat" on the app store, you’ll find an app. But that's for the old live chat system, not the new messaging experience.

The new Zendesk messaging app isn't an app you download from a store. It’s a software development kit (SDK) that you (https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4408827701530-Getting-started-with-messaging-for-your-website-help-center-and-mobile-apps) or mobile app. This helps it feel more integrated for your customers, but it also means it’s managed differently from the old chat widget you might be used to.

Key features and limitations of the Zendesk messaging app

To figure out if the Zendesk messaging app is a good fit, you need a clear-eyed look at what it does well and where it comes up short.

Omnichannel presence and the unified agent workspace

One of the best things about Zendesk Messaging is how it pulls conversations from all over, your website, app, WhatsApp, Instagram, into a single place called the unified Agent Workspace. This gives your agents a complete picture of the customer's history, which is a great idea.

The unified Agent Workspace in the Zendesk messaging app, where agents can view customer conversations from multiple channels.

But, as many teams have discovered, this unified view comes with a trade-off. The built-in controls for managing things like agent status, business hours, and how chats are routed are much less flexible than in the old system. Teams often end up feeling like they've lost control, struggling to set offline hours or manage agent availability. This can easily lead to missed messages and burned-out agents.

Native AI and automation with Answer Bot & Flow Builder

Zendesk gives you a couple of its own tools, Answer Bot and Flow Builder, to automate conversations. They can be handy for handling simple, common questions and pointing users toward help articles. But when you start trying to do anything more complex, you'll likely hit a wall.

The first big snag is that the knowledge is siloed. Zendesk's AI mostly just looks at your Zendesk Help Center articles. It ignores all the useful info buried in past tickets, your internal wikis on Confluence, or the process docs you keep in Google Drive. This means the AI can only answer questions that you’ve already created a perfect help article for.

Then there's the Flow Builder. It’s a visual tool, which is nice, but it can get incredibly messy and complicated when you try to build out detailed, multi-step automations. It's also pretty limited in what it can do outside of Zendesk itself, so forget about having it check an order status in another system.

Zendesk's Flow Builder, which can become complex for building detailed automations in the Zendesk messaging app.

Finally, there’s no real way to test how your AI will perform on actual customer questions before you set it live. You spend all this time building flows, cross your fingers, and hope for the best. It’s a bit of a gamble that can backfire and create a frustrating experience for your customers.

Customization and the developer platform

If you have a team of developers and a healthy budget, Zendesk does offer a powerful set of tools on its Sunshine Conversations platform. With it, you can build pretty much any custom chat experience you can dream up.

The problem? It takes a lot of developer time and money. This leaves a huge gap between the limited built-in tools and a full-blown custom project that most companies just can't justify.

Getting more from the Zendesk messaging app with a third-party AI

The real strength of Zendesk's new messaging setup isn't its own tools, but its ability to connect with more specialized AI platforms. While the built-in AI is a starting point, a dedicated AI solution can help you get around its limitations and achieve the results you were hoping for.

Go live in minutes with a self-serve setup and simulation

Instead of a long, developer-heavy project, you can plug in a self-serve AI platform right away. For instance, eesel AI has a one-click Zendesk integration that gets you up and running in a few minutes, not a few months.

What really makes a difference is the ability to test everything with confidence. eesel AI has a simulation mode that lets you run the AI over thousands of your past tickets in a safe environment. You can see exactly how it would have replied, get a solid prediction of your resolution rate, and tweak its behavior before it ever talks to a real customer. This takes all the guesswork out of launching an AI agent.

The eesel AI simulation mode, which tests AI performance on past tickets for the Zendesk messaging app.

Unify all your knowledge sources

To fix the siloed knowledge problem, you need an AI that can connect to all the places your team stores information. eesel AI doesn't just read your help center. It learns from your entire support history, past tickets, macros, internal Confluence pages, Google Docs, you name it. This lets it give accurate, relevant answers that reflect how your team actually solves problems, without you having to train it on anything manually.

An infographic showing how eesel AI connects to multiple knowledge sources to enhance the Zendesk messaging app.

Gain total control with a customizable workflow engine

The best way to get back the control your team lost is with a flexible workflow engine. Instead of being stuck with rigid, pre-built flows, eesel AI gives you a fully customizable engine for total control.

You can set specific rules for when the AI steps in and what it’s allowed to do. Need it to look up order details in Shopify, check a subscription, or escalate a ticket with a certain tag? You can build custom actions for all of that, putting the power back in your support team's hands.

Move from tickets to conversations, intelligently

The move to Zendesk Messaging makes sense. It's the foundation for the kind of modern, ongoing support that customers are starting to expect. But as we've seen, the out-of-the-box version has its quirks that can make the transition tough for support teams.

The key isn't to fight the new system, but to build on top of it. By pairing Zendesk's messaging channels with a smart, flexible, and easy-to-use AI, you can get around the native shortcomings and deliver a genuinely great experience.

Don't let the limitations of the default tools hold you back. Enhance your Zendesk messaging app with an AI that connects to all your knowledge and gives you full control. See how eesel AI can transform your Zendesk setup and help you deliver on the promise of conversational support.