Got it from here : https://infosec.exchange/@mattburgess/111885761552024420
NEW: WhatsApp will soon make it possible to chat with people who use other messaging apps. It’s revealed some more details on how that will work.
— Apps will need to sign an agreement with Meta, then connect to its servers.
— Meta wants people to use the Signal Protocol, but also says other encryption protocols can be used if they can meet WhatsApp’s standards
— WhatsApp has been testing with Matrix in recent months, although nothing is agreed yet. Swiss app Threema says it won’t become interoperable
I’ve been looking for info about this for months, as it was obviously a part of the EU’s anti-gatekeeping legislation from last year, but I couldn’t find any info. Specifically I wanted to know which apps would be able to communicate with WhatsApp - Telegram? Signal? Something else?
And now that there’s an article, it’s behind a paywall…
Edit: managed to read it through Firefox’s reader mode. Unfortunately they don’t know, but not for lack of trying:
So far, it is unclear which companies, if any, are planning to connect their services to WhatsApp. 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. The majority of companies didn’t respond to the request for comment. Those that did, Snap and Discord, said they had nothing to add.
The only service they mentioned that definitely will have chat interoperability is Facebook Messenger… Yeah, no fucking thanks.
So two Facebook products are interoperable with each other? Wow…
Not yet, if I’m reading this right! They will be, because the EU forced them to be I guess?
I am finding it as ridiculous as you are.
They’ll pull an Apple out of their arse and somehow break it outside the EU.
I definitely expect this. And I expect the EU to tear both them and Apple a new one.
This new legislation comes into effect next month. So sure, “not yet”, but very soon.
Specifically I wanted to know which apps would be able to communicate with WhatsApp
WhatsApp will allow any service to communicate with their network. But wether or not any do is entirely up to those other apps. I think there’s very little chance Signal will ever interoperate with anything for example. iMessage surely won’t either.
Technically it shouldn’t be difficult, because almost every chat app these days uses the same protocol (Signal which is an unofficial industry standard and soon to be an official one). The question is how well it fits with their business model. And most companies don’t share their business model.
The other issue is the recipient needs to opt in. You won’t be able to send messages to just anyone… and if spam is an issue then everyone might turn it off.
The bigger question for me is wether or not you will be able to use a third party app to access WhatsApp. As in full access, view all messages, view contacts, create messages, receive push notifications, etc etc. It looks like the DMA might allow a return to software like Adium which is an open source messaging app that used to be able to log into almost any messaging service. These days none of the most popular services are available in the app, so almost nobody uses it.
Adium… They named an app ‘the element of advertisement’?
Adium… now that’s a name I have not heard for a while. Used to have a super nice customized version to chat with friends on various platforms. It was amazing. Thanks for the nostalgia trip!
there’s no paywall, the whole article is readable. but in summary, they don’t know yet which apps will have this implemented, if any.
They give you only so many free articles per month, I had to circumvent a paywall as well
I hope that if this happens there will be an option to block any type of contact/message coming from WhatsApp
Does that mean I can send messages to WhatsApp using Signal?
WhatsApp, Google Messenger, Facebook Messenger and Skype all implement the same Signal protocol.
The article’s title is misleading, and did not explain how it would work at all.
Like, will the protocol also add logins for different services? I remember having a messenger app a while ago (Trillian), which would merge MSN, ICQ and other chat platforms into a single experience.
I can sorta get how DMs will work. Group chats may be much harder to implement.
I had all but forgotten about Trillian! Man, that was huge in my circles back in my youth. Such nostalgia reading that name again.
Miranda IM over Trillian any day of the week!
Trillian? A while ago? Maaaan, that’s almost two decades ago… Nostalgia just hit me
Also to add a very important question: will Facebook then be able to harvest all of our Signal metadata like they do for WhatsApp?
Hopefully the opposite is true. There’e end-to-end encryption and if the client isn’t written by meta, then meta can’t intercept after decryption.
Being able to use meta’s chat platform without any of their code being executable on your device is a big improvement. They can’t scrape your contacts and data at all.
I recommend seeing talks from Matrix protocol that explain potencial and doable solutions.
Only if Signal decided to apply for connection, which I doubt they’ll do.
It would be cool tho if you could. I don’t wanna use WhatsApp but I’m basically forced to because everyone else in my family uses it.
Yeah, for me my family and close friends have no problem because I explained and told I am not going to use Facebook products. But when meeting new people, especially groups of people there is a big barrier.
I hope it will.
So if Meta <-> Signal interoperability gets implemented and I have a hypothetical group chat with 5 Signal users and 1 WhatsApp/Messenger user, all the messages would be sent to Meta? I don’t like it
Simple solution to that is not to add people. Am assuming should that happen Signal will add highlight of sorts to warn about users from other networks.
Does that matter if it’s end-to-end encrypted?
How do I know that WhatsApp isn’t performing client-side scanning of messages? Meta has been doing it before, on Messenger
EU is making Big Tech Based 😁
I hope Threema is gonna be able to interoperate with WhatsApp as I’d love to ditch that app.
Just a setting preventing new people from your contacts to write to you on WhatsApp would be great. I only keep it because of some groups I can’t leave…
I’ve updated the post here to include the original posting and preview I got it from, which shows :
Swiss app Threema says it won’t become interoperable
Oh shit that’s bad news.
I guess the technical side was complicated…
It’s not the technical side. They are scared of metadata leaking and making their network less secure. If you want a dezentrale messaging to work take a look at matrix.
Is this part of Embrace/Extend?
Do you think it will be possible to do this in matrix? Without bridges obviously
Without bridges only if WhatsApp incorporate Matrix protocol. There must be something to translate different APIs/protocols.
I stopped reading at “…full details will be released in May.”
It’s been a long time coming and it’s still coming…
I want this a lot
