Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has decided to separate the chat feature between Messenger and Instagram once again. In 2020, they had allowed users to send messages across the platforms, but now the integration will be discontinued. The decision will revert back to the original setup where chats are separate in each app.

The support for cross-app chat will be stopped in mid-December 2023, as mentioned on Instagram's support page. This means users will no longer be able to start new conversations or calls with Facebook accounts from Instagram. Previous conversations with Facebook accounts can only be read, and messages cannot be sent via those old chats.

Additionally, Facebook accounts will not be able to see the active status or message read status of Instagram users. The chat history with Facebook accounts will not be moved to the Facebook or Messenger inbox.

The reason behind this decision is not explicitly stated by Meta, but it could be related to the European Digital Markets Act (DMA), which requires companies like Meta to offer interoperability or integration with third parties. By discontinuing the integration, Meta may be preparing for wider interoperability as mandated by the DMA.

Furthermore, Meta also ended support for SMS in Messenger in August 2023, after offering it since 2016. Users can no longer send SMS messages through Messenger and are encouraged to use the native messaging apps on their phones instead.