WhatsApp has announced that it is preparing to introduce third-party chat support across Europe. This upcoming change is being implemented to meet new European regulations under the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that require major messaging platforms to offer interoperability with competing services and allow users to communicate across different apps without switching platforms. Once the feature becomes available, users in Europe will be able to stay inside WhatsApp while exchanging messages with people who use different apps.
According to the Meta-owned platform, the first apps that will be able to connect directly with its platform are BirdyChat and Haiket, two independent messaging services that have agreed to meet WhatsAppâs technical and security requirements. Once the feature reaches a userâs device, a new section labelled ‘third-party chats’ will appear in the appâs settings.
WhatsApp stresses that the feature is entirely optional, as users must activate it themselves and can disable it at any time. When a user turns it on, WhatsApp will enable them to send and receive text messages, images, videos, voice notes and files with contacts who are using approved third-party apps. The company is launching the feature with support for direct one-to-one conversations, while group chat interoperability is planned for a later phase.
The company assures that security remains a top priority as it rolls out this feature. All third-party apps must use end-to-end encryption protocols that are compatible with WhatsAppâs own system, ensuring that messages remain encrypted from sender to receiver even when they pass between different services. However, WhatsApp also noted that external apps may handle certain types of metadata differently, so users should be aware that the privacy experience could vary slightly depending on the app on the other side of the conversation.
At the start, the feature will be available only on mobile devices, covering both iOS and Android. The company plans to expand support to desktop, web and tablet versions of WhatsApp later. Users will also be able to choose how these new conversations appear, either mixing them into their main chat list or placing them in a dedicated section to keep them separate from standard WhatsApp chats.
But despite all this, some features that WhatsApp users are used to may not work the same way when communicating with people on other apps. Certain advanced functions (like stickers, message reactions, or disappearing messages) may behave differently or may not work initially, depending on the third-party service involved. With this latest move, WhatsAppâs parent company, Meta, is trying to align with the EUâs Digital Markets Act, as it has already faced significant fines for violating these rules in the past. In April 2025, the social media behemoth was hit with a âŹ200 million fine for its ‘consent-or-pay’ ad model, which required users to either agree to extensive data sharing for ads or pay for an ad-free service.
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