Matthew Hodgson, the cofounder of Matrix, which is building an open source standard for encryption and operates the messaging app Element, confirms that his company has worked with WhatsApp on interoperability in an “experimental” way but that he cannot say any more due to signing a nondisclosure agreement. It has also faced recent challenges in the US about the closed nature of iMessage.) The company did not respond to a request for comment. (The European Commission is investigating whether Apple’s iMessage meets the thresholds to offer interoperability with other apps itself. Those that did, Snap and Discord, said they had nothing to add. The majority of companies didn’t respond to the request for comment. WIRED asked 10 owners of messaging or chat services-including Google, Telegram, Viber, and Signal-whether they intend to look at interoperability or had worked with WhatsApp on its plans. So far, it is unclear which companies, if any, are planning to connect their services to WhatsApp. This, he says, could give developers more “flexibility” and remove the need for them to use WhatsApp’s client-server protocols, but it also “increases the potential attack vectors.” There will also be the option, Brouwer says, for third-party developers to add a proxy between their apps and WhatsApp’s server. ![]() Meta’s app will also allow other apps to use different encryption protocols if they can “demonstrate” they reach the security standards that WhatsApp outlines in its guidance. There is some flexibility to WhatsApp interoperability. “This effectively means that the approach that we’re trying to take is for WhatsApp to document our client- server protocol and letting third-party clients connect directly to our infrastructure and exchange messages with WhatsApp clients.” “We think that the best way to deliver this approach is through a solution that is built on WhatsApp’s existing client-server architecture,” Brouwer says, adding it has been working with other companies on the plans. When receiving messages, apps will need to connect to WhatsApp’s servers. To send messages, third-party apps will need to encrypt content using the Signal Protocol and then package it into message stanzas in the eXtensible Markup Language (XML). Other than its namesake app and the Meta-owned messengers, the Signal Protocol is publicly disclosed as being used in Google Messages and Skype. With just a few weeks to go before that time is up, WhatsApp is detailing how its interoperability with other apps may work.īrouwer says Meta would prefer if other apps use the Signal encryption protocol, which its systems are based upon. In September, European, lawmakers designated WhatsApp parent Meta as one of six influential “gatekeeer” companies under its sweeping Digital Markets Act, giving it six months to open its walled garden to others. It isn’t a shift entirely of WhatsApp’s own making. The move is the first time the chat app has opened itself up this way, and it potentially offers greater competition. At least, that's the plan.įor about the past two years, WhatsApp has been building a way for other messaging apps to plug themselves into its service and let people chat across apps-all without breaking the end-to-end encryption it uses to protect the privacy and security of people’s messages. Soon, though, WhatsApp will do the previously unthinkable for its 2 billion users: allow people to message you from another app. ![]() ![]() Messenger, iMessage, WhatsApp, Signal-they all exist in their own silos of group chats and contacts. A frequent annoyance of contemporary life is having to shuffle through different messaging apps to reach the right person.
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