As of: February 17, 2024, 10:39 a.m
By: Alina Schröder
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WhatsApp contacts should soon also be accessible via other messenger apps.
© Imago
Just write to your friend or friend on WhatsApp, but from another messenger?
This should be possible soon.
The background is an EU law.
Syke - The company Meta, to which WhatsApp belongs, had around six months - now the big change is about to happen: From March, WhatsApp contacts will also be accessible via other chat apps.
The European Union had forced the company to act by means of a new law.
Write to WhatsApp contacts from other chat apps?
Meta gives details about the function
The Digital Markets Act (DMA) is intended to encourage so-called “gatekeepers” to open up to other providers.
These include six particularly large, influential tech companies – Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, ByteDance, Microsoft and Meta.
The EU will provide information about this in September 2023.
Digital Markets Act (DMA) |
|
|---|---|
in German: |
Digital Markets Act |
decided by: |
the European Union (EU) |
adopted on: |
July 6, 2022 |
For WhatsApp, this means in concrete terms: Contacts should also be able to be contacted via other app chats, such as Signal, Telegram or Threema.
A beta version for the iOS operating system shows what the whole thing could look like.
In an image published by the website
WABetaInfo
, a folder called “Third-Party Chats” can be seen above each chat.
This is exactly where messages from other messengers should be collected.
For now, this only applies to individual contacts.
Cross-app group conversations and phone calls should only be possible in the coming years, as Meta manager Dick Brouwer explained in an interview with the online magazine
Wired
.
Planned from March – but WhatsApp change could be delayed
What sounds practical and simple, but there is a catch.
Because the whole thing only works if other chat providers also accept the offer.
Signal, Telegram and other messengers are not forced to make their app compatible with WhatsApp.
There are also still questions about data security.
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The EU's deadline for implementation is March, but when the innovation will actually come into force is still uncertain.
A few other changes to WhatsApp are planned for 2024.
For example, users can look forward to new, colorful emojis.
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