In a recent update, Meta quietly announced that from mid-December onwards, Instagram and Facebook’s messaging services will no longer support cross-compatibility. The cross-app chatting feature, initially introduced in 2020, is set to be discontinued.
This means users won’t be able to initiate new cross-platform chats, and existing conversations between the two services will be limited to read-only mode.
Additionally, Facebook accounts will lose the ability to view the Activity Status of Instagram users or determine if a message has been seen by them. Meta further stated that existing chats with Facebook accounts on Instagram will not transition to the inbox on Facebook or Messenger.
Meta emphasized that all existing chats on Instagram involving Facebook accounts will become read-only, even if those accounts are removed from the chat. Consequently, users with Instagram accounts won’t be able to send new messages in these chats.
Although Meta hasn’t provided a specific date for the removal, the decision might be influenced by regulatory considerations, especially in the European Union. The absence of information about a potential replacement leaves users uncertain about the future of this communication feature.
In response to the matter, a spokesperson from Meta stated to The Verge:
A few years ago, we introduced a new Messenger experience in Instagram DMs which enabled people to message and call a FB account (Messenger) from an Instagram account and vice versa. Starting in mid-December, we will begin removing this feature. However, people can continue to message and call their contacts on Facebook, Instagram or Messenger.