Meta pulls the plug on its cross-app messaging feature between Facebook and Instagram
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VanessaC
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In a surprising move, Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, has announced that it will be discontinuing the cross-app messaging feature between the two platforms later this month.
This decision has left many users wondering what will happen to their old conversations and how this change will impact their social media experience.
The cross-app chat feature, which was introduced in August 2020, allowed users to seamlessly message friends and family across Facebook and Instagram without having to switch between apps.
However, this feature will be disabled sometime in December, according to an announcement that was published sometime in late November.
The good news is that your old conversations will not disappear. They will still be accessible on the respective platforms where they were initiated. However, you will no longer be able to reply to these conversations or start new ones across the two platforms.
Meta has not yet explained its reasoning behind discontinuing the cross-app messaging feature.
However, some industry observers have speculated that this change could be in response to the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA).
The DMA is a comprehensive legislation designed to curb the market dominance of big tech companies.
One of its key objectives is to make it easier for consumers to switch between different competing services, including social media platforms, internet browsers, and app stores.
Interestingly, WhatsApp, another Meta-owned platform, is reportedly developing a third-party chats feature that will be DMA-compatible.
Furthermore, Facebook accounts will no longer be able to view your Activity Status on Instagram or whether you’ve seen a message.
Any existing chats you've had with Facebook accounts won't move to your inbox on Facebook or Messenger.
The exact date for the cutoff has not been announced.
This news comes after Meta has pulled the plug on one of its widely used messaging apps—Messenger Lite.
First introduced in 2016, this nifty little application was tailored for those with older Android devices—which at the time meant devices from 2009 or 2011—with a small download size of just 1MB. Not only did it use less memory and data, but it also ran smoothly on minimalist processors and low bandwidth connections.
The app did an excellent job of making the online messaging experience smooth and pain-free for people in the countries where Meta initially rolled out the program.
However, with the recent updates to the regular Meta Messenger application, Messenger Lite became unnecessary and obsolete.
You can read more about the app’s discontinuation here.
What are your thoughts on this upcoming change? Will it significantly impact your social media experience? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
This decision has left many users wondering what will happen to their old conversations and how this change will impact their social media experience.
The cross-app chat feature, which was introduced in August 2020, allowed users to seamlessly message friends and family across Facebook and Instagram without having to switch between apps.
However, this feature will be disabled sometime in December, according to an announcement that was published sometime in late November.
The good news is that your old conversations will not disappear. They will still be accessible on the respective platforms where they were initiated. However, you will no longer be able to reply to these conversations or start new ones across the two platforms.
Meta has not yet explained its reasoning behind discontinuing the cross-app messaging feature.
However, some industry observers have speculated that this change could be in response to the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA).
The DMA is a comprehensive legislation designed to curb the market dominance of big tech companies.
One of its key objectives is to make it easier for consumers to switch between different competing services, including social media platforms, internet browsers, and app stores.
Interestingly, WhatsApp, another Meta-owned platform, is reportedly developing a third-party chats feature that will be DMA-compatible.
Furthermore, Facebook accounts will no longer be able to view your Activity Status on Instagram or whether you’ve seen a message.
Any existing chats you've had with Facebook accounts won't move to your inbox on Facebook or Messenger.
The exact date for the cutoff has not been announced.
This news comes after Meta has pulled the plug on one of its widely used messaging apps—Messenger Lite.
First introduced in 2016, this nifty little application was tailored for those with older Android devices—which at the time meant devices from 2009 or 2011—with a small download size of just 1MB. Not only did it use less memory and data, but it also ran smoothly on minimalist processors and low bandwidth connections.
The app did an excellent job of making the online messaging experience smooth and pain-free for people in the countries where Meta initially rolled out the program.
However, with the recent updates to the regular Meta Messenger application, Messenger Lite became unnecessary and obsolete.
You can read more about the app’s discontinuation here.
Key Takeaways
- Messaging between Facebook and Instagram will be discontinued later this month, disabling the ability to start new cross-app chats.
- Old conversations between the two apps will still be available, but users will not be able to reply or start new ones.
- This change follows Facebook's merge of Instagram with Messenger in August 2020, with no clear explanation provided for the cessation of cross-app compatibility.
- The move might be due to the upcoming enforcement of the European Union's Digital Markets Act (DMA) which was designed to curb the market dominance of big tech companies.