WhatsApp is about to change out of all recognition. Thanks to the Digital Markets Act, coming into force in the European Union in March 2024, the messaging app is opening up to third parties. And a new report says that it’s coming sooner than many analysts had expected.
March 2 update below. This post was first published on February 29, 2024.
While it was known that the DMA would arrive in early March, WhatsApp hadn’t said anything about when it would comply. In the DMA, WhatsApp was declared a gatekeeper app, whose significant influence meant that it had to open things up. This was understood to mean that the app would add separate inboxes for different messaging apps.
So, if someone was messaging you through Messenger, Signal or even Apple iMessage, WhatsApp had to provide the capability for the message to show up in WhatsApp. Oh, joy, no more wracking your brain to remember which service your friends prefer, it would come to WhatsApp automatically.
Now, according to WABetaInfo—widely considered the authority when it comes to all things WhatsApp—these game-changing updates are on their way.
Here’s what the site says, and reading between the lines, it’s telling us something quite surprising.
“The Digital Markets Act (DMA) targets large tech companies who heavily influence the digital market, requiring them to facilitate user communication across multiple apps. Since it is required by law, WhatsApp must offer support for third-party chats to their European Region users. Thanks to the latest WhatsApp beta for Android 2.24.5.18 update, which is available on the Google Play Store, we discovered that WhatsApp is working on the chat interoperability feature!”
That’s especially interesting because much of the focus of the DMA has been on the iPhone, but it’s the Google version of WhatsApp that is showing these changes coming soon.
And, just as intriguingly, the screenshot WABetaInfo uses reveals that WhatsApp will let users choose what to do. The screen says, “You’re messaging someone outside of WhatsApp. Third-party apps may use different end-to-end encryption.” It also warns that other apps “may handle your data differently.”
As the site goes on, there’s great convenience available this way. “This move towards interoperability is a significant step for WhatsApp in aligning with EU regulations and providing users with more versatile communication options. Users in the European Region will be able to chat with others on WhatsApp using various messaging apps, even if they don’t have a WhatsApp account.”
Soon, it seems, WhatsApp is going to change radically, and will never quite be the same again.
March 2 update. There’s more from WABetaInfo on the upcoming change. First, it said, “WhatsApp is in the process of developing a chat info screen dedicated to third-party chats for a future update. Since profile names and photos are unavailable in third-party chats, WhatsApp will instead display the default profile photo and the third-party app name from which the chat originated. In our example, we demonstrated a third-party chat with an Instagram account.”
The site has a caveat for this information, though: “However, it’s important to clarify that Instagram is not a supported third-party app. Instead, it served as an example to illustrate how the third-party chat info screen appears. It’s worth noting that users will also be in control over which apps can communicate with their WhatsApp account, ensuring their preferences are always respected.”
It also mentions that third-party chats won’t be the same as regular chats from within WhatsApp. There will be limitations to some features. “Specifically, group chats involving third-party apps are not supported at the moment, meaning users cannot engage in group conversations that involve these external platforms. In addition, making calls with third-party apps isn’t supported either. Initially, communication with third-party chats may be restricted to text messages, but it’s worth mentioning that as WhatsApp continues to develop its integration with third-party apps, more features may be supported in the future. In addition, it is very important to note that this feature is optional as users will need to manually activate the interoperability service if they wish to use it.” WABetaInfo has previously said that users also have, “the ability to opt out if they choose, as highlighted in Article 7 of the regulations.”
