Plans underway to integrate WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger
The three services will, however, continue as stand alone apps.
(Web Desk) - Facebook is planning to merge the other social media sites Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp by letting users message one another across all the services, New York Times, the USA based Newspaper reported.
The shock decision would mean that all of Facebook’s sprawling social media properties would be integrated for the first time.
Each of the services would remain as standalone apps, but Facebook would create a new way for users to communicate with others across the apps.
The company is still in the early stages of the work and plans to complete it by the end of this year or in early 2020, the report said.
After the changes, a Facebook user, for instance, will be able send an encrypted message to someone who has only a WhatsApp account, according to the report.
End-to-end encryption protects messages from being viewed by anyone except the participants in the conversation.
Thousands of Facebook employees will likely be working on the effort, as it requires them to reconfigure how the apps ‘function at their most basic levels,’ according to the Times.
Facebook expects it to be a ‘long process,’ however, ‘We’re working on making more of our messaging products end-to-end encrypted and considering ways to make it easier to reach friends and family across networks,’ a Facebook spokesperson told CNBC.
