March 9, 2026, 2:57 pm | Read time: 2 minutes
Since October 2025, WhatsApp has allowed the use of a new so-called interoperability feature in the European Union. This enables group conversations with users of other messengers. The feature is now widely available. However, there is a significant limitation. Currently, WhatsApp mainly supports apps that are not well-known.
Among the first services that can connect with WhatsApp are BirdyChat and Haiket. Neither is among the established alternatives. BirdyChat is primarily aimed at professional use and is intended to facilitate communication with customers. Haiket focuses more on voice and audio messages as a central element of communication, pursuing a different concept than typical messengers.
EU Mandates WhatsApp to Provide an Interface
The basis for this opening is the European Union’s regulations. Large platforms classified as so-called gatekeepers must make their services accessible to competing offerings. The goal is to prevent users from being permanently tied to a single provider. WhatsApp is also considered a gatekeeper. Therefore, the service must provide a technical interface. Through this, other messengers can send and receive messages without all parties needing to use the same app.
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The idea behind this is clear: conversations should be able to be consolidated in one application. Switching between different messengers should become unnecessary. In WhatsApp settings, you can now specify whether third-party chats are displayed separately or together with regular conversations.
Major Messengers Remain on the Sidelines
In everyday life, the new feature has so far played a minor role. Major messengers are currently not participating in the interface. The well-known WhatsApp competitors Signal and Threema have decided early on against collaboration. Both cite privacy concerns, among other reasons.
WhatsApp does promise end-to-end encryption for third-party chats. Nevertheless, a large amount of metadata is still collected. For instance, the Meta corporation can gather general location information via IP addresses.
Whether and when the situation will change is uncertain. For interoperability to become commonplace, major messengers would need to agree on common technical standards and support the interfaces. Until that happens, the new WhatsApp feature remains available but is likely to have little practical significance for many users.