While it is good that there are multiple messaging apps competing with each other in the mobile app space, it does mean getting them all if you have different groups of people using various apps for the purpose. For WhatsApp at least, that may change sometime in the future, as a new screen with the name “Third-party chats” has been seen in the latest beta version.
WABetaInfo reports that the screen is still not accessible to most users, which is understandable as it is still in development. But it’s a pretty clear sign as to what WhatsApp is currently working on. It is likely that this will be something that is available to users by March of next year.
OF course, WhatsApp did not necessarily start working on this out of the goodness of their hearts, and the implementation by March is also not am arbitrarily chosen window either. All this stems from the Digital Markets Act (DMA) in the EU, which deems that services by companies that are large enough to be deemed as “gatekeepers” have to offer interoperability with the competition.
Beyond playing nice with competitors, the law also dictates that gatekeepers let users uninstall pre-installed software, as well as use alternative app stores. As the companies getting the gatekeeper designation got tagged this month, the EU has given them six months to comply with the regulation, the time window of which ends in March.
(Source: WABetaInfo, European Commission)
