Meta Announces Future Plans for Cross-Platform Messaging

Meta is making significant strides in enhancing messaging interoperability for its EU users, aligning with the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). The latest updates aim to facilitate seamless communication between Meta’s Messenger and WhatsApp and other third-party messaging platforms.

This move is part of Meta’s broader commitment to comply with new EU regulations that mandate large messaging providers to support interoperability. By enabling users to import chats from other messaging apps, Meta is both complying with this regulatory push and providing more functionality for users – even if that functionality is as simple as sending messages to other apps and platforms.

One of the key updates includes improved visibility for connecting with users on other platforms. Meta will now incorporate clear in-app notifications in WhatsApp and Messenger to inform users about third-party chat options. Additionally, new explanatory prompts will guide users on how to activate and manage these features.

Furthermore, Meta is enriching the user experience by incorporating advanced messaging features into imported chats. This includes reactions, direct replies, typing indicators, and read receipts. Users can either keep these messages in a separate folder or integrate them into their main inbox. However, one notable absence in the current update is end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for imported chats.

While these changes were required to comply with EU regulations, it could be a huge boon for users that to use Messenger as an all-purpose communication app instead of being locked into Meta’s ecosystem. Meta plans to introduce group creation features by next year and voice and video calling capabilities by 2027, with more features potentially to follow in the future.