this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2026
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As part of changing laws in Europe, Meta now offers the option for you to chat with others using third-party messaging apps that have integrated with WhatsApp and that you choose to turn on.

Note: Chats with third-party apps are only available in select regions and may not be available to you.

I feel sorry for all in the wrong region.

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[–] blackbeans@lemmy.zip 10 points 6 days ago (2 children)

The only choice so far is Birdychat, which is business related. I'm afraid Signal would be hard to integrate due to its encrypted nature (and the fact that it's not European). I hope Threema will follow.

[–] TheV2@programming.dev 8 points 6 days ago

Unfortuantely I only found this German heise news from Feb 2024. But both Signal and Threema won't lower their security and privacy standards to be interoperable with WhatsApp.

[–] leftascenter@jlai.lu 1 points 6 days ago

I also have haiket allowed.

No FOSS options.

[–] JensSpahnpasta@feddit.org 4 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Is there also a way to chat with people using WhatsApp without me installing an Meta app on my phone?

[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 3 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

Xmpp and Matrix have bridges that only require to install WhatsApp on some old phone and turn it on once every few weeks to renew the connection.

This works independent of what is mentioned in the OP's link.

[–] DeathByDenim@lemmy.world 3 points 6 days ago

Heh, I used to run Whatapp in an Android VM for use in a Matrix bridge. I got my phone number banned in about a week or so. So I guess it's really important to use an actual phone.

That was years ago and I used that to get my family to install Element, so it still ended well.

[–] Photonic@lemmy.world 2 points 6 days ago

I think it’s called Birdychat or something

[–] spitard@jlai.lu 3 points 6 days ago (1 children)

I don’t get why Olvid isn’t more popularβ€”it’s end-to-end encrypted and doesn’t even leak metadata

[–] jherazob@fedia.io 2 points 2 days ago

Mostly no one knows it exists, your comment is the first time I've heard of it for example

[–] 87Six@lemmy.zip 56 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Cool but please just use Signal if you can. I'm priviledged enough to have got my best friend to use it with me so far.

[–] Skua@kbin.earth 21 points 1 week ago

This kind of interoperability is really useful for getting people to switch over. The only reason to use these apps is to talk to other people, so the network effect has a heavy hand on people's decisions

[–] gigachad@piefed.social 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I ditched WhatsApp some weeks ago and have most of my friend on Signal now, even my 70+ parents. I still have some people on Telegram though

[–] 87Six@lemmy.zip 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)

What do you think of Telegram? I only really heard bad things but I'm trying to stay open-minded about it

[–] xploit@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago (1 children)
[–] 87Six@lemmy.zip 2 points 6 days ago

Yeaaa I saw that, that's exactly why I'm not very fond of telegram

[–] comrade_twisty@feddit.org 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

There is still lots of work needed on this regulation. You still need to install WhatsApp to be able to use other apps, and then encryption (however safe it is in the first place is not a topic of this post) is weakened or completely broken. Second as of now only very few fringe messaging apps support it.

[–] GMac@feddit.org 4 points 1 week ago

is there a list of 3rd party apps? being in the 'wrong region' and the linked page just says: "Chats with third-party apps are only available in select regions and may not be available to you." Changing my VPN to an EU country gives me the DMA version which still doesn't state which apps they have actually integrated with.

[–] thesdev@feddit.org 4 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I don't imagine many people would opt in to this. Even if you bother to click on the notification for setting it up, the multi-step wizard warns you enough times about the risks of enabling this feature that most would just leave it disabled.

[–] Teppichbrand@feddit.org 1 points 6 days ago

That's where you and me come in. Tell people about it!

[–] Bombastic@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

~~Which regions?~~ Had to update WhatsApp first

Hmmm i wonder πŸ€” probably maybe the EU?

[–] arrrse@piefed.social -1 points 1 week ago

What's the point, i can use other apps (signal for example) in whatsapp ? If so, why wouldn't i just use the other messaging app