WhatsApp has added a new feature that marks the most significant change in years. We have been waiting for the WhatsApp feature for a long time, but it is quite disappointing.
New WhatsApp feature
WhatsApp has a long-awaited feature! It is finally possible to send messages to other applications via WhatsApp. That’s a big change, because for years you could only start a conversation between two WhatsApp accounts. This is no longer the case due to new European regulations. This legislation obliges large companies such as WhatsApp to collaborate with other services.
Meta, the parent company of WhatsApp, has therefore made an important change to the messaging service. WhatsApp has been opened to two external messaging services for the first time. You will soon be able to start conversations with BirdyChat and Haiket users. This long-awaited feature is now available in WhatsApp, allowing you to activate remote chats. Curious how that works? Here you will find the long-awaited WhatsApp feature!
Enable external chats
WhatsApp has made the most important change in years, because the messaging service has been opened to external applications for the first time. In the new version of WhatsApp you can finally enable access to external chats. Currently only BirdyChat and Haiket work together with WhatsApp, more applications will probably be added later. This is how you enable external chats on WhatsApp:
- Open WhatsApp;
- Go to ‘Settings’;
- Choose ‘Account’;
- Tap ‘External chats’;
- Select ‘Enable’;
- Tap ‘Continue’;
- Select the external apps and choose ‘Next’;
- Control how third-party chats are displayed and tap ‘Next’;
- Finally, choose ‘Enable’.
When setting up external apps in WhatsApp, you decide which messaging services have access. At the moment you can only select BirdyChat, more options will probably appear there later. You choose where conversations with external messaging services are displayed. This can be done between your ‘normal’ chats in WhatsApp, but you can also create a separate list for it. This way you no longer need other messaging services to chat with different platforms. It is only possible to start private conversations with external chats.
More about the WhatsApp feature
We have been waiting for WhatsApp’s new feature for a long time, but most users do not benefit from the improvement (yet). BirdyChat and Haiket are two relatively unknown messaging services that have yet to adapt their own software to WhatsApp. Even if that happens, there are likely to be few users who will use the feature. Larger services such as Signal and Telegram have already indicated that they will not work with WhatsApp (for the time being).
WhatsApp meets the requirements of the European Union, but the new function is disappointing so far. It remains to be seen whether more messaging services will work with WhatsApp and when that will happen. European regulations currently only affect WhatsApp, other platforms are smaller and do not have to comply with this legislation. Don’t want to miss any development of WhatsApp? Then sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter so you always stay informed!
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