WhatsApp has been working for months to comply with EU regulations by developing support for third-party chats. The Digital Markets Act (DMA) aims to regulate the behavior of large technology companies, particularly those considered “gatekeeper”, which have a significant impact on the digital market. A key aspect of the DMA is the requirement for these companies to allow users to communicate with each other using various apps. According to what was revealed by the WABetaInfo site, WhatsApp is developing this interoperability function both on the version Androidand on a future version for iPhoneas shown by Beta 24.2.10.72 Of WhatsApp per iOS.
📝 WhatsApp beta for iOS 24.2.10.72: what’s new?
WhatsApp is working on a chat interoperability feature to comply with new EU regulations, and it will be available in a future update!https://t.co/wuOjTvciGp pic.twitter.com/9s49xosAfC
— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) January 24, 2024
WhatsApp: how the interoperability service works
The interoperability required by the DMA ofEuropean Union It has several benefits for users. The latter will in fact be able to communicate with other people on WhatsApp, even if they use messaging apps. For example, if a user uses an app like Signal, can send messages to another using WhatsApp, even without having a Meta app account. This makes it easier more inclusive communication channels and diversified, improving the overall user experience. However, it is necessary to remember that users will have to enable manually the interoperability service. Furthermore, they are also free to give it up, as required by Article 7 of the EU Regulation. As far as privacy is concerned, interoperability will guarantee the same level of crittografia end-to-end in messages, even if exchanged on different platforms.
The discovery of such a function on WhatsApp Beta per iOS 24.2.72 shows Meta’s commitment to adapting to the new European Union rules as soon as possible. Even WhatsApp has not yet announced an official release date for this feature on Android e iOS, it is plausible that their arrival is now imminent. There deadline indicated by the EU to companies to adapt to the new regulation is set for March 7, 2024. This means that interoperability between the different messaging apps must also be active within this period.