Background information
Digital Markets Act (DMA): what actually is it?
by Florian Bodoky
WhatsApp allows chatting with other messengers
17-11-2025
Translation: machine translated
WhatsApp lets EU users chat with contacts from other messengers for the first time - thanks to new rules that open up the service to external apps.
WhatsApp is introducing a new function in Europe that allows users from the European Union to write to users of other messengers. The background to this is the EU's Digital Markets Act, which obliges large platform operators to open up their services to each other - the so-called interoperability obligation. If you use a phone number registered in the EU, you will soon see the section «Chats from third-party providers» in the settings. There you can decide whether you want to receive messages from external apps in WhatsApp.
At the start, only a few, so far rather unknown messengers work with WhatsApp - for example Birdy Chat or Haiket. However, the interface is basically open to all services as long as they adhere to the technical specifications. WhatsApp requires end-to-end encryption that meets its own standard. Some well-known apps, such as Signal or Threema, deliberately refrain from integration because they consider WhatsApp's protective measures to be too lax and do not favour the data collection by parent company Meta.
Only in the EU - and without group chats
If you activate the function, you will receive messages from external messengers in their own area, separate from your regular WhatsApp chats. At the moment, this only works with individual chats. WhatsApp does not yet support group conversations, status articles or automatically disappearing messages. The web and desktop versions are also being left out for the time being, while Android and iOS users will gradually receive the new feature.
Source: Meta
You can cancel the release at any time. If you later switch to a phone number outside the EU, the option will automatically disappear because the new rules only apply in the EU market.
This should give smaller messengers the chance to grow and the industry to become more innovative - until now, a truly free choice of messenger has failed because WhatsApp is so widespread that you can only reach a few of your contacts without the app.
Header image: Shutterstock
I've been tinkering with digital networks ever since I found out how to activate both telephone channels on the ISDN card for greater bandwidth. As for the analogue variety, I've been doing that since I learned to talk. Though Winterthur is my adoptive home city, my heart still bleeds red and blue.
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