Where is the interoperability of messenger apps?

Status quo regarding “More Instant Messaging Interoperability” Where is the interoperability of messenger apps?

As part of the EU’s DMA legislation, it was actually intended that various messenger services would have to open up to third-party providers. So far, nothing has happened. The question is: will interoperability come – and what is the point of it anyway?

Many users want interoperability between the important messenger services. But how realistic are the IETF’s efforts in this regard?

(Image: © golubovy – stock.adobe.com)

There are countless messenger services. And as practical as they are in everyday life, they can become annoying for individual users who maintain a lot of contacts. Because each proprietary protocol requires its own app: Slack for work, WhatsApp for the family, Signal for friends, Facebook and Instagram Messenger for social media, Threema for the computer group and so on.

This is confusing. And the more messenger apps are installed, the higher the chance that a security gap will occur somewhere. And so many users would like a cross-provider standard similar to SMS or email that can combine all messengers in one app.

MIMI – the standard for messenger operability

Enter “More Instant Messaging Interoperability”, or MIMI for short, a standard for the interoperability of messenger services that is currently being developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). According to the makers, MIMI is intended to ensure that different messenger protocols can communicate with each other without users having to forego important functions or security features such as end-to-end encryption – MIMI uses Messaging Layer Security (MLS) – without having to do without. However, MIMI is not a new messenger protocol, but rather a protocol that is intended to make it easier for providers to make their services interoperable.

The idea gained momentum with the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which came into force in March of this year. Industry observers already saw the end of the Babylonian messenger diversity: The EU ordered the Meta Group, as a so-called gatekeeper – a provider with a dominant market position – to open its messengers WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Instagram Messenger to third parties. MIMI with MLS could be a good way to implement this opening requirement. Unfortunately, MIMI has not yet been fully defined: the various standardization steps will take at least until the end of 2025.

Alternative RCS has long been established

Unfortunately, there are also several problems: The DMA does not specify exactly how providers should open up. At the moment, only the Meta Group is affected, and it is resisting this opening. And there is another standard, RCS, that has long been ready – and could end the messenger chaos in its own way: RCS stands for Rich Communication Services and is the designated successor standard for SMS and MMS. It has everything that users value about WhatsApp and Co.: text and voice messages, group chats, sending and reading status as well as the exchange of photos and videos – and all of this free of charge via data connections. Thanks to SMS/MMS fallback, RCS is de facto compatible with all mobile devices. RCS also currently works on all current Android smartphones, Apple will support the standard with iOS 18; network operators have been offering RCS for years.

This means that RCS will work between all smartphones, without any additional service or app. The reason for the success of WhatsApp – and subsequently other services of this kind – was that a standard such as RCS was missing for the smartphone era: SMS and MMS were no longer up to date, and WhatsApp filled the gap. Conversely, RCS could cause messengers to lose importance. The RCS standard does have certain shortcomings, such as a lack of end-to-end encryption. However, this can be retrofitted by providers if necessary. This is the case with Google Messenger, for example, which already uses RCS. Another disadvantage is that RCS is tied to a smartphone, like SMS and WhatsApp: RCS therefore requires a phone number, which Windows and Mac computers, for example, do not have. A solution like Apple’s Messages for Mac or WhatsApp Desktop is conceivable here, but the smartphone must be available on the network (or via the cloud).

Providers are skeptical

But back to MIMI: At the moment, there is a lot of scepticism on the provider side. Interestingly, it is not just the market-dominating “data octopuses” that are resisting MIMI and interoperability regulations: Smaller messengers, such as Threema and Signal, which are concerned about high data protection and security standards, spoke out at the beginning of the year – and were skeptical: Interoperability with WhatsApp is problematicbecause the Threemas service undermines high data protection standards. In other words: Even if Meta opens its messengers, that does not mean that other providers will create interoperability.

Status as of 30.10.2020

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Since MIMI is becoming an IETF standard, there is a good chance that some providers will adopt the technology in order to achieve interoperability. However, remaining on technological islands has significant advantages for the providers. They can establish their own standards in their services, bind users to the platform or even force them to use it. With regard to money transactions integrated into the messenger such as WhatsApp Pay or Apple Pay via Apple Messages, it is clear that interoperability has its limits here at the latest: Here, a standard for money transactions via messenger would have to be established again. However, this is unlikely to be in the interest of the providers, who earn money from every transaction and – as in the case of Apple – can even sell hardware using such standards.

Will MIMI come?

One thing is certain: MIMI will become a standard. Whether it will actually be used is another question. At least it could have a chance as a minimum standard for the interoperability of messengers in a business context. Provided there is sufficient pressure from the governments of the EU and the USA, it could also be established in the medium term as a basis for the exchange of text and picture messages between different messengers.

However, RCS has long been available for this part and has been actively used as such a standard for a long time. Messenger providers have little interest in taking up forced openings, as the example of Threema shows. In addition, there is always a commercial interest of a company behind the messengers, which has led to numerous messenger-specific special functions over time. These are not covered by the MIMI standard: Anyone who wants the full messenger experience will probably have to install all the different apps from the providers in the future.

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