WhatsApp will not be able to avoid this, and the messenger must respond to new regulations. Good for the user?
Some of the most popular services and providers are now facing a problem as they have to adapt to new EU laws. Meta’s WhatsApp is one of the so-called Gatekeepers, which is now required to be opened to other providers. WhatsApp has already made preparations as it was expected to be positioned as a gatekeeper.
WhatsApp is preparing for new regulations
A new area has now appeared in WhatsApp early, which couldn’t be more obvious due to its name “Third Party Chats”. Here we will likely find all the chats in which communication is made interactively with other messaging applications. WhatsApp seems to want to clearly separate this from pure WhatsApp chats.
In short: WhatsApp needs to open up to other chat apps. It is theoretically possible that users can also reach you via Signal or Telegram using your phone number in WhatsApp. For example, there are various challenges, including providing encryption. Or compatibility functions such as video chats or reactions. That’s why Meta and Co. Not too excited about the new regulations.
Almost as it was before: a phone number, an app and nothing else
However, for the user, this is basically a good thing. Because don’t we all dream a little bit about being able to easily access our contacts via phone number again without having to download and then set up a specific messenger first? This is a dream that Google sought to achieve through the RCS service in its messaging application, but it was too late. Now the laws will lead to the “solution”, and we will see that in the coming months.
This is behind RCS: It is the successor to SMS, which has a similar simple structure. No additional user account or application required; Phone number support is pre-installed on Android via the Google Messages app. However, RCS has a modern set of functions that we know from WhatsApp, Telegram and Co.
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