It looks like the popular mobile chat app WhatsApp is getting ready to add support for receiving messages from users of other similar apps. That’s according to the latest Android beta version of the app, which added a new section dedicated to this.

as per WABetainfo, the new 2.23.19.8. WhatsApp Android beta introduces a new “Third Party Chats” section. However, this part of the app is currently not functional. This is almost certainly a placeholder for the addition of a new feature that will allow users of similar messaging apps to send texts to WhatsApp users.

The new section is apparently being developed thanks to the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). The laws, enacted in 2022, were created to designate certain online apps and services everywhere as “gatekeepers.” These gatekeepers must “allow third parties to interact with the gatekeeper’s own services in certain specific situations.”

Earlier this month, the European Commission named six companies and 22 services as digital gatekeepers. One of the companies was Meta, and one of those services was WhatsApp. This and the other apps included in this list must be DAM compliant within six months. That’s probably why this new feature has now appeared in the beta version of WhatsApp Android.

There are still some questions about how this new third-party chat will actually work on WhatsApp. One feature many users like about the service is its end-to-end encryption of messages. Adding access to third-party chats, some of which may not use this type of security, can be a problem.

Also, we don’t know yet if WhatsApp support for third-party chats will be only for EU users, or if Meta will expand this feature to other markets. Obviously, we’ll be learning a lot more about this new feature and how it will work in the coming weeks and months.