Some Facebook users are now reporting the addition of a WhatsApp button within the main Facebook app. The feature appears to have been added specifically for a select group of users as part of a wider test. Since this is a test feature, and since Facebook hasn’t officially announced anything about the feature, users shouldn’t be too surprised or concerned if they haven’t seen it for themselves. As of this writing, the feature only appears to have made its way to Android, though that hasn’t been confirmed. It was also allegedly found after a user switched the app’s language to Danish, though there also isn’t any word on whether that switch is a requirement to access the feature.
With that said, users who do have access to the new button should see it appear, alongside the WhatsApp name and icon, just below their own name within the Facebook application’s menu. As to what the button actually does, for the time being, it currently seems to act as a shortcut to the WhatsApp application itself. That’s probably not too exciting for most people since that means it basically just provides an easy way to open up WhatsApp without having to actually leave the main Facebook app. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean that other features or functionality from WhatsApp itself couldn’t be added to the button later on. This could simply be a starting point to see how often the button is used and how the code behind the button performs. Facebook would choose this as a starting point since WhatsApp is a subsidiary company to Facebook and the shortcut could easily draw more attention or potential users.
Long-time fans of the social media platform shouldn’t be too surprised about this development, either. This is not, after all, the first time the company has played with the idea that its subsidiaries’ functionality or apps could be integrated into Facebook itself. Unfortunately, as with those past efforts, this new button and any potential uses for it could ultimately end with the test and never make its way over as a core feature. Until something official is announced, there’s really no way of knowing.