Facebook Adds Cross-App Group Chat Between Instagram And Messenger

Instagram, Messenger

When chats on WhatsApp are straightforward, not so much on Instagram and Messenger.

Both apps offer more than just a chat experience. And this is among the reasons why Facebook merged Messenger and Instagram DMs in 2020, in order to create a unified messaging system.

This time, Facebook extends that cross-app feature, by adding the ability for users to create cross-app groups on both apps.

What this means, users can create a group on Instagram DMs with their Messenger contacts, and vice versa.

To make things even more intuitive, Facebook is also adding group typing indicators to show users who’s typing the next message.

This should make it easier to include some contacts who may not be using one of the platforms.

"Last year, we announced cross-app messaging between Messenger and Instagram. With this update, you’ll be able to start group chats between your Instagram and Messenger contacts," said Facebook in the announcement.

Instagram, Messenger - cross-platform chat

Facebook said that there are more than 70% of Instagram users have opted into having a cross-app chat with Messenger.

And knowing that the demand is high, introducing a cross-app group chat is the next most sensible thing to do.

This update is a big step forward in Facebook’s ambitions to make its apps work better with each other.

The next feature, is Facebook in introducing polls in Instagram DM, which is built off the poll feature that exists in Messenger.

And on the personalization sector, the company is introducing J Balvin-inspired 'cottagecore' theme on Instagram and Astrology Art Suite on Messenger, which includes stickers and AR effects.

This is an addition to the already existing Cottegecore theme launched earlier this 2021.

Lastly, there is the Facebook’s Watch Together feature, where users can watch videos from their Instagram feed with their friends.

Instagram, Messenger - cross-platform chat

At this time, Facebook the company is facing a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), alleging that Facebook is a monopoly and must be broken up.

But as individual products under the Facebook umbrella rely on each other more and more, the company can argue that these apps are dependent to one another, and cannot be separated.

A Facebook spokesperson once said that Messenger is like a “connective tissue regardless of the surface.”

But the thing about merging messaging features to allow cross-app communication, is encryption.

WhatsApp is already known for its full end-to-end encryption. But others, like Instagram and Messenger, not so much.

Various governments have raised concerns about this, because at any given time, without encryption, not only that users' privacy can be compromised as there is also the potential data-sharing with Facebook for ad purposes.

Facebook should either need to provide full encryption, in all of its messaging tools, or abandon its integration process.

This is why WhatsApp is still independent, when the other two merge.

Published: 
01/10/2021