This new development in the WhatsApp social application comes just a month before the Digital Markets Act (DMA) deadline, for tech platforms to make the transfer of personal data from one service to another seamless.

In an interview with Wired, Dick Brouwer, WhatsApp’s engineering director, disclosed the company’s preparedness to roll out interoperability while steadfastly safeguarding user privacy and security. Brouwer noted the essential balance between facilitating seamless cross-platform communication and ensuring WhatsApp’s uncompromising privacy standards.

The European Union’s inclusion of messaging interoperability under the DMA in 2022 prompted WhatsApp, alongside other gatekeepers like Messenger, to open their doors to third-party chat apps. Meta, WhatsApp’s parent company, is also ready to extend support for other chat apps to Messenger in compliance with the EU mandate.

Initially focusing on one-on-one chats, the interoperability feature will enable users to exchange text, audio, video, images, and files seamlessly across various apps. As previously reported by WABetaInfo, this functionality will be housed in a dedicated sub-menu labelled “Third-party chats” atop the inbox.

Brouwer noted that the interoperability feature would be opt-in to mitigate potential risks of spam and scams. Companies seeking interoperability with Meta’s system will be required to enter into agreements, the details of which are yet to be disclosed. WhatsApp insists on end-to-end encryption to ensure secure communication across platforms, although the specifics of compliance may evolve given recent developments in Apple’s App Store policies.

Matthew Hodgson, the founder of the open-source messaging protocol Matrix, disclosed in a recent talk that his company had engaged in experimental collaboration with WhatsApp to preserve end-to-end encryption while exploring interoperability options.

While the intentions of major operators like Telegram, and Google regarding interoperability with WhatsApp remain undefined, Brouwer cautioned that achieving feature parity between third-party chats and WhatsApp’s native chats might bring in new challenges in privacy and security.