WhatsApp Chat Interoperability Feature Seen in Development in Latest Beta Update: According to Report

WhatsApp is apparently working on a new feature that would allow for conversation interoperability. The Meta-owned messaging service looks to be working on the ability to interact with people who are not on WhatsApp. The European Union has ratified the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which takes effect in the first quarter of 2024. WhatsApp and other key "gatekeeper" platforms and services are mandated by the new EU rule to provide interoperability for communications with users on other sites.

The new chat interoperability feature, which WABetaInfo discovered in development on the newest beta version of the WhatsApp app for Android handsets, might emerge under a new Third-party conversations area of the program. Apart from the title at the top, it also seems totally empty, indicating that the feature is still in its early phases of development.

The new area for third-party conversations isn't visible to consumers, but WABetaInfo discovered it in the code for WhatsApp beta for Android 2.23.19.8. Due to a lack of other information in the app's code, it is currently unknown how the feature will function once development is complete, such as whether chats from third-party services will be included in the main chat list, or whether notifications for third-party apps will be displayed alongside regular WhatsApp chats.

It's worth noting that Meta's work on a third-party chat area on WhatsApp comes only six months before the EU's DMA requirements on chat interoperability take effect. Platforms with 45 million monthly users in EU countries, or those with a market cap of at least EUR 75 billion (roughly Rs. 6,67,100 crore) — or an annual turnover of at least EUR 7.5 billion (roughly Rs. 66,710 crore) — in the EU, will be required to offer their users the ability to chat with other messaging platforms and services beginning in March 2024.

However, this timetable looks to be relatively short, considering the standards on chat interoperability also mandate end-to-end encryption for talks across services. Aside from posing significant security challenges, the process could take a long time — Meta announced in 2019 that it would merge the messaging experiences of WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook to allow users to contact each other, and the company has yet to fully roll out encrypted messaging across its own platforms three years later.

Tags: #whatsapp #wabetainfo #WhatsAppChatInteroperability #thirdpartychats