Is it possible to switch from the default messaging app to WhatsApp or Messenger if you can?
With iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, Apple finally agreed to a long-standing request from customers, as the company introduced the option to change your default apps for web browsing and email.
But many other applications such as – messages, music, calendar, etc. – remain closed and are not allowed to be switched and the built-in software from Apple itself is used.
Facebook isn’t too happy about that. According to The Information, Facebook is lobbying more aggressively to convince Apple to let people choose their preferred messaging app.
“We feel people should be able to choose different messaging apps and the default one on their phone,” Stan Chudnovsky, head of Messenger at Facebook, told The Information.
“In general, everything is moving in this direction anyway.” According to him, Facebook has routinely asked Apple over the years to make it possible for third-party apps to take over as the default messaging app in their phones.
The answer was always no. “The main guess is that Apple’s messaging app increases hardware sales,” he said, when asked why Apple’s position remains unchanged.
And it’s probably true: Apple’s iMessage platform and the features it makes available to iPhone owners — voice messages, who has read the message, reply/write indicators, stickers and message effects, Memoji, and more — are a key factor in why people buy and stick with an iPhone.
As MacRumors notes, allowing other apps to replace Messages would require major changes to iOS, which currently doesn’t allow third-party apps to receive SMS text messages sent to an iPhone’s working phone number.
And since this is Facebook we’re talking about, you still have to weigh the privacy implications, even if the company commits to end-to-end encryption for messages. iOS is all about security.
Just today, news emerged that Apple will temporarily stop taking its usual 30 percent cut of in-app payments for Facebook online events.
This came after Facebook described Apple’s charges as harmful to businesses trying to bear the economic losses of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The temporary agreement will expire at the end of 2020. Although it represents a small win for Facebook, the company clearly has bigger goals and still wants to become a bigger part of the iPhone experience for the people who want it.
While Facebook seeks to unify its messaging platform between Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp.
As Apple continues to face scrutiny from policymakers and increasing public criticism from developers, Facebook seems to think it’s time to turn up the pressure on Apple.
