Facebook Messenger Rooms integration is featured in new WhatsApp beta

A new beta version of WhatsApp Messenger includes the new Rooms group video calling function of Facebook Messenger. It is essentially a link to the Messenger app, but is a new step in the integration of Facebook’s chat apps.

WABetaInfo writes that the link has appeared in the Android beta of WhatsApp, version 2.20.163. In this version, some users will see the links, including European users. The button can be found in the attachment menu in chats and as a button in the Calls tab. Whoever presses it will be redirected to the Facebook Messenger app.

Rooms went live worldwide at the end of this week. The feature allows Facebook users to video call 50 people at the same time. Guests can also join a Room without a Facebook account, as long as they have the link. Facebook eventually wants to encrypt Rooms conversations end-to-end, but that is not the case now. It works with the same encryption as other video calls in Messenger.

Until now, Facebook’s concrete influence on WhatsApp was limited to a ‘From Facebook’ text here and there in the app. It’s been there since November. The integration of Rooms should also come to Instagram, another major subsidiary of Facebook.