WhatsApp and Instagram are to be integrated with Facebook Messenger, it has been revealed. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg apparently wants to combine the services under a single underlying messaging platform or protocol. Show The idea is to allow users to communicate across the three services more easily, with the project set to complete by the end of this year or early next, according to The New York Times. According to reports, the new unified backend will support the end-to-end encryption needed to stop messages being viewed by third parties. In theory, this means all three platforms should be more secure, but in reality, there are doubts. For this reason, the news has not been well received by many users. People are already leaving Facebook in droves and with good reason: The social networking giant has been hacked and suffered data leaks several times over the last year. As part of this, the messaging app was possibly affected seeing users’ private conversations exposed to hackers. This, of course, is in addition to the ongoing Cambridge Analytica scandal which saw Facebook abusing its user data with results that could have influenced elections. The exact logistics of what is going to happen once the three services are combined are not yet clear. But you can bet your life that data will be at the heart of this integration. There are even suggestions that if pressured, Facebook could build a handy back door allowing law enforcement to spy on WhatApp users when needed. WhatsApp has so far largely been kept separate to Facebook. But following this major news, many of you will have decided it’s time to cast aside the popular messaging service. So what can you use instead? There are a few choices of secure messaging apps that use end-to-end encryption to ensure your private messages remain that way. Viber Free messaging app Viber, which has over 900 million registered users, is made by a Luxembourg based company. It’s now rolled out end-to-end encryption, enabling it to compete with the likes of WhatsApp, security-wise. The app also offers secure, high-quality calls making it a good alternative when calling overseas – or simply to avoid listening ears. Signal Beloved of security industry people worldwide, encryption is at the heart of secure messaging app Signal. Adding to its credentials, Signal’s encryption engine is open source, which can aid security because a huge number of people are constantly testing and fixing the code. The app is free, simple and easy to use and available on multiple platforms. Telegram Telegram, which has more than 180 million active users, is considered one of the most secure messaging platforms. Also offering end-to-end encryption, the free app offers a special privacy feature called “Secret Chats”. When using this feature to send sensitive messages, photos, videos and other files on your app, they can be deleted when the recipient opens them on the other side. These chats are not part of the Telegram cloud and are instead stored on the device. If you’re using this app, researchers say the Bots feature has suffered a recent security flaw - but this something Telegram itself contests. Wickr Available on both Android and iOS, another app that boasts a secure end-to-end encryption protocol is Wickr. Like Signal, the app was made open source in August 2017, so the community is able to inspect it and hopefully fix any bugs. Adding to its credentials, Wickr even offers a “bug bounty” to any hackers able to find a vulnerability on the platform. Which service should you use? There are a number of other options, including iMessage on the iPhone – Apple’s Wi-Fi enabled messaging service. But in the end, it’s down to personal preference: Wickr, for example, is more suited to enterprise users. Those who want to communicate with friends are better off using a consumer-friendly platform that others can also join. Therefore, if you have to choose one – and need to recommend it to others – it should probably be Signal or Telegram. The choice, as they say, is yours.
Story by Ivan MehtaIvan covers Big Tech, India, policy, AI, security, platforms, and apps for TNW. That's one heck of a mixed bag. He likes to say "Bleh." Ivan covers Big Tech, India, policy, AI, security, platforms, and apps for TNW. That's one heck of a mixed bag. He likes to say "Bleh." In 2019, Mark Zuckerberg kicked off the project to merge Facebook Messenger, Instagram DMs, and WhatsApp. Last year, the company started unifying Instagram and Messenger by allowing you to message contacts across both networks. But this is just the beginning of the work, and the final aim for the social network is to let you reach your friends across networks from any of the apps. I spoke to Loredana Crisan, VP of Messaging Experience at Facebook, about the company’s vision regarding messaging services in coming years. She said that Facebook is taking a “Platform and service” approach for this. Meaning, you could be using any platform of your choice, and yet be able to chat with your friends through underlying services. The first step of this is to make Instagram DMs look and feel more like Messenger. You might still use the latter to initiate some conversations or check your other inbox, but you don’t always need to use it for all interactions. Crisan said that Messenger is the social app — powered by Instagram or Facebook account — that powers all feed and sharing interactions. That’s contrasting with WhatsApp, which requires a phone number to create an account and accesses your address book to fetch contacts. While there’s no direct interaction between Messenger/Instagram DMs and WhatsApp, Crisan said Facebook wants to enable that in the future:
She added that WhatsApp users will have a choice of opting in to decide how they want to interact with social networks (Facebook and Instagram). Earlier this year, WhatsApp rolled out a controversial privacy policy update that paved the way for the Facebook family of apps to exchange certain data with it in the future. Crisan emphasized that all these features will be wrapped in the security of end-to-end encryption. Currently, only WhatsApp has end-to-end encryption for all interactions on the app. Messenger rolled out a security update for voice and video calls in August. The Facebook exec said the north star for the company in terms of messaging is to let the person see your message quickly and respond to it, no matter what app they use. While the Instagram-Messenger merger seems to be going great for the firm, WhatsApp integration will be its trickiest and most controversial challenge. The aforementioned WhatsApp policy change brought a large wave of criticism, and the company had to backtrack on a lot of fronts. So when it prepares to roll out this feature, it’ll have to inform users in detail about how their data will be used. Otherwise, prepare for chaos. Loredana Crisan will be speaking at TNW Conference 2021, taking place September 30th and October 1st. They’ll be joined by 150 other experts who will share their latest insights from the world of business and tech. Get the TNW newsletterGet the most important tech news in your inbox each week. Follow @thenextweb Also tagged withCan WhatsApp and Messenger be linked?'The integration of WhatsApp into Facebook Messenger isn't available yet,' the site explained. But in the future, the closer integration of the apps would mean any user with a Facebook account could reach friends through WhatsApp without having to download the app. This feature isn't available yet.
Can you connect Facebook to WhatsApp?in the bottom right of Facebook. Tap Settings & Privacy and then tap Settings. Tap Linked accounts. Tap WhatsApp.
Is WhatsApp Messenger the same as messenger?Facebook Messenger does not have end-to-end encryption. WhatsApp messenger does not have a Facebook sign in option. Facebook Messenger has a Facebook sign in option. WhatsApp Messenger has captioning feature i.e. you can add captions to your photos and videos.
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Can you link messenger to WhatsApp?
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