WhatsApp to Introduce Third Party Chats Support

Meta-owned instant messaging platform WhatsApp is soon going to feature cross-platform messaging. Support for third-party chat will allow people to use a different messaging platform to text users on WhatsApp. Meta has said that this feature will be opted-in to prevent users from getting spammed on the service. The information about the launch of WhatsApp's cross-platform messaging feature comes ahead of the EU's Digital Markets Act (DMA) deadline which is March 6.

WhatsApp engineering director Dick Brouwer told Wired confirmed Said that when the upcoming chat interoperability starts on WhatsApp, users will be able to send messages with many types of attachments. Users will see a new “Third Party Chats” section at the top of their chat list that will give them information about messages coming from users on other platforms and separate them from chats protected by WhatsApp's E2EE encryption.

Other chat platforms can encrypt and send messages to WhatsApp users using the open source Signal protocol. You can connect to Meta's proprietary chat platform to send and receive messages. Brouwer said WhatsApp is documenting its client-server protocol that will allow other chat services to connect their clients directly to WhatsApp's servers and send messages to users across platforms.

If companies do not want to follow this process, they must demonstrate that their encryption protocol meets WhatsApp's security standards or use a less secure “proxy” that communicates with their service. According to the report, many popular messaging platforms have not confirmed whether they have partnered with WhatsApp to add support for third-party chat.

The report says that normal SMS messages will not support third-party chat features. Let us tell you that unlike normal chat, calling and group chat will not be available on chat platforms this year. Brouwer also said that features on WhatsApp chat will be developed at a different pace than third-party chat. To prevent spam and scams, users will also have to opt out of receiving chats from third party platforms.