Convergence : WhatsApp being integrated into ‘Facebook for Android’ App
Finally we have the answer why Facebook bought WhatsApp. Almost after a year since the acquisition of popular cross platform smartphone messaging App, WhatsApp, Facebook has begunย testing a new feature in its ‘Facebook for Android’ app that includes the first major integration of WhatsApp.
One of the clear signs of integration is the newly added ย ‘Send’ button in Facebook for Android. This button comes with the familiar WhatsApp icon as a part of the status actions buttons that appear under each status update.
The new button appears on the right side (for left-to-right languages) for some users in the most recent version of the Facebook for Android app, the Geek Time reported.
This move appears to be the first step towards connecting the two platforms in order to streamline the operations of both Apps which serve similar market and take control of the messaging market together.
According to reports, teams are already working on a deeper integration that will include the ability to send messages between Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.
WhatsApp, which has almost a billion monthly active users has already rolled out WhatsApp calling feature in Android smartphones which could be further integrated with Facebook for Android App.
WhatsApp was acquired by Facebook for over $20 billion in February last year.