Great news coming to the house Whatsapp. In fact, in the future, users of the most famous instant messaging platform will even be able to chat with friends on other social platforms. This is what the Meta company is preparing to do, which for some time has been trying to make WhatsApp a tool increasingly rich in possibilities.
Adapt to the rules
According to the latest rumors, very soon WhatsApp will allow its users to receive messages from users of other platforms, and all without this posing any risks from a security point of view. In fact, end-to-end encryption will continue to guarantee stable protection. The news is really important, because it is the first time that WhatsApp has opened up to competing platforms in this way.
Not just the possibility of receiving messages from other platforms, but also to send messages. WhatsApp users will therefore be able to send messages to their friends on other platforms without running risks.
But what led to this turning point? Is this just a Meta marketing strategy? Not exactly. The company that manages WhatsApp is adapting to the Digital Markets Act. This measure considers companies such as Meta, but also Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance and Microsoft, as “gatekeepers” in the digital markets, as they have the largest platforms at their disposal. For this reason, these companies are called upon to behave fairly online. This is what the Digital Markets Act aims to achieve, one of the cornerstones of the European digital strategy.
Meta, therefore, must comply with the legislation, and has six months, starting from last September 2023, to comply. The professionals, therefore, are looking for solutions while striving, at the same time, to always guarantee the privacy of users and the safety. The exchange of material between platforms will initially be operational only for messages or the sending of images, videos or audio. For phone calls, or group messages, there will still be a bit of a wait.
Please note that it will be up to the user to choose whether or not to opt-in to this cross-platform.
Interoperability between platforms
“I can choose whether or not to participate in being open to exchanging messages with third parties”he has declared Dick Brouwertechnical director of WhatsApp, in an interview given to Wired. Users who choose this solution will then receive messages in a separate section, which should be called “third-party chat”. Separating non-WhatsApp messages from common ones also serves to ensure security.
An important step forward, the WhatsApp team explains, would be if the other platforms also decided to use the communication protocol. Signal encryption. “We believe the best way to deliver this approach is through a solution based on WhatsApp’s existing client-server architecture“said Dick Brouwer.
Which platforms will it be possible to chat with
The platforms with which it will be possible to interact in this cross-platform are other messaging systems, such as Telegram, Signal, Snapchat, iMessage, Viber and maybe even Google Messages. It all depends on who will be available. The interoperability offered by WhatsApp will guarantee seamless communication with contacts using other applications, greater connectivity and an improvement in the experience on the platform itself.
For chats with other platforms, an ad hoc box should be introduced which will be called “Third party chat“. The breakthrough should arrive by March 7, 2024.