The European Union’s Digital Markets Act, after many other consumer-friendly wins, is about to bring us WhatsApp third-party integration. This is something that has been in the works for quite some time now. And, like Apple, Meta has stated this feature will be exclusive to the EU region. After having been accused of gatekeeping, this new addition will allow WhatsApp to send and receive messages from other apps.
WhatsApp third-party integration changes the game
Meta’s WhatsApp has always been a closed app. Users couldn’t integrate it with any other app, let alone rival messaging platforms. The European Union, in its crusade against unfair monopolies, deemed this a problem that needed solving. Like its many cases against Apple, the EU has forced Meta to adopt changes to continue operating in EU countries.
Meta last talked about the upcoming WhatsApp third-party integration back in March. Much to the chagrin of many users, Meta said the feature would be EU-exclusive. This follows Apple’s strategy of only applying changes where required by the law.
WhatsApp’s third-party integration will allow users to send and receive messages from rival messaging apps. This includes Signal and the very popular but somewhat controversial Telegram. The new feature will no longer require users to switch between different applications to participate in different chats. Meta has been firm that it will uphold all necessary encryption standards to protect user privacy and data.
TheSpAndroid gives us a first look
As is common, TheSpAndroid dove into the app and found partially complete code to share. It seems WhatsApp third-party integration will be a manual option for users. Those who want to make use of it will have to enable it themselves. Users will access this feature under Settings > Account > Third-party chats. They can also go into Selected apps to manually choose which apps they’re comfortable sharing their phone number with. Chosen apps will allow users of those apps to look up WhatsApp users via phone number.
Similar to what Apple did when forced to allow third-party app downloads, WhatsApp shows a warning. This warning message tells users that scams are more likely in third-party chats. It also warns users that other apps handle user data differently to WhatsApp. The UI for WhatsApp’s third-party integration can be seen in a video released by TheSpAndroid. It’s worth noting this feature is likely to only support basic text messages alongside media sharing. Group chats, stickers, reactions, and disappearing messages are unlikely to be available on launch.
