Meta to end cross-app chatting between Instagram and Facebook Messenger
Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is making a significant change to its messaging experience by disconnecting the ability to have “cross-app chats” between Instagram and Facebook Messenger. This move comes three years after Meta initially integrated Messenger with Instagram to improve the chatting experience and enable users to stay in touch with their friends and contacts across both platforms.
As of mid-December 2023, cross-app chatting between Messenger and Instagram will no longer be available. This means that users won’t be able to start new conversations or calls with Facebook accounts from Instagram, existing chats with Facebook accounts will become read-only, and Facebook accounts won’t be able to view users’ activity status or whether they’ve seen a message.
The reason for this change has not been explicitly stated, but it may be related to Europe’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which requires large companies to offer interoperability between messaging platforms. Meta’s decision to disconnect the cross-app chatting feature could be a step towards preparing for wider, DMA-compliant interoperability within Messenger. Additionally, it could be an instance of Meta scaling back Messenger, as seen with the recent loss of SMS/MMS capabilities on Android and the shutdown of Messenger Lite.
These changes mark a notable shift in Meta’s approach to its messaging platforms and highlight the company’s ongoing efforts to adapt to evolving regulatory requirements and user preferences. It remains to be seen how users will respond to the discontinuation of cross-app chatting between Instagram and Facebook Messenger and what further changes Meta may implement in its messaging services.