WhatsApp to Introduce 'Third Party Chats' to Comply With EU's DMA Regulations 4q1270 Technology News

WhatsApp s will soon be able to send and receive messages from s on third-party chat platforms. 5t2j5p

Written by David Delima | Updated: 8 February 2024 14:39 IST

WhatsApp to Introduce 'Third Party Chats' to Comply With EU's DMA Regulations

Photo Credit: Pexels/ Anton s6p1v

Highlights

WhatsApp will soon let you chat with s on other platforms
The firm has outlined how chat interoperability will work on WhatsApp
WhatsApp s must opt in to send and receive third party chats

ment

Meta — will soon add for cross-platform messaging. for third party chats will allow people using a different messaging platform to text s on WhatsApp, and Meta has said that the feature will be opt-in to prevent s from being spammed across services. The company's confirmation of its efforts to enable cross-platform messaging comes ahead of the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) deadline of March 6.

When the chat interoperability is enabled on WhatsApp, s will be able to send messages along with various types of attachments, WhatsApp Engineering Director Dick Brouwer E2EE encryption.

In order to message WhatsApp s, other chat platforms can encrypt messages using the open source Signal Protocol and send them, while connecting to the Meta-owned chat platform to send and receive messages. Brouwer told the publication that WhatsApp is documenting its client-server protocol which will let other chat services connect their clients directly to WhatsApp's servers and message s across platforms.

WhatsApp Web Could Soon Get a Chat Lock Feature: Report

If companies do not want to follow the prescribed procedure, they will need to show that their encryption protocol matches WhatsApp's security standards — or use a less secure "proxy" that communicates with their service. According to the report, several popular messaging platforms did not confirm whether they had partnered with WhatsApp to add for third party chats.

A feature tracker previously spotted the third-party chats interface in development
Photo Credit: WABetaInfo

The report says that regular SMS messages won't be ed for third party chats feature. Meanwhile, unlike individual chats, calling and group conversations across chat platforms won't be available this year. Brouwer also stated that the features on WhatsApp chats would be developed at a different pace compared to third party chats. s will also have to opt in to receive chats from third party platforms, to prevent spam and scams.

WhatsApp is Working on Adding for keys on iOS 17: Report

While a feature tracker previously spotted the interface for third party chats in development, there's no word from the company on when for the feature will be rolled out. The deadline for the DMA regulations is March 6, which means that there's less than a month before WhatsApp introduces for the feature — at least in the EU. We can expect to hear more about third party chats on WhatsApp in the coming weeks.

Is the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5 the best foldable phone you can buy in India right now? We discuss the company's new clamshell-style foldable handset on the latest episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Further reading: Regulation

David Delima

Email David Delima

As a writer on technology with Gadgets 360, David Delima is interested in open-source technology, cybersecurity, consumer privacy, and loves to read and write about how the Internet works. David can be ed via email at [email protected], on Twitter at @DxDavey, and Mastodon at mstdn.social/@delima. More