WhatsApp will soon support third-party chats in-app.
This feature would facilitate the ability for users with applications such as Telegram or Signal to send messages to WhatsApp users, eliminating the requirement for the sender to have a WhatsApp account, and vice versa.
WhatsApp appears to be actively preparing to facilitate support for third-party chats within its platform, thereby adhering to the requirements set by the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). This mandates large technology companies, referred to as “gatekeepers,” to establish interoperability and enable communication between various applications.
Simply put, this feature would facilitate the ability for users with applications such as Telegram or Signal to send messages to WhatsApp users, eliminating the requirement for the sender to have a WhatsApp account, and vice versa.
This feature was first observed last year, and now it has been seen in the most recent WhatsApp beta on iOS version 24.2.10.72, as reported by the WhatsApp features tracker WABetaInfo. According to the publication, WhatsApp is actively developing a new section that will showcase incoming messages from all third-party chats.
Termed interoperability, this feature is said to be optional, and users will likely need to “maintain control over this feature, as they are required to manually enable the interoperability service,” WABetaInfo said.
It isn’t clear when we can expect WhatsApp to bring this feature for the masses, if at all, because it is possible that this would only be rolled out to users residing in countries part of the EU. However, considering WhatsApp’s March 2024 deadline to implement this feature, there is a possibility that it may be rolled out sooner than anticipated.
In related news, WhatsApp has launched the ability to include polls to WhatsApp Channels, and the Meta-owned app is also getting the ability to send voice notes and make up to 16 people admins. Plus, users can now even share a Channel update as their status.
