Instagram and Facebook cross-app chats will be discontinued by Meta

Facebook and Instagram cross-app communication will end in the middle of December, according to a statement from Meta. 

Users of Instagram will not be able to initiate new calls or conversations with Facebook accounts from Instagram, per a recent update to the Instagram support page. Users can start a new chat on Facebook or Messenger using their Facebook account to carry on a conversation with Facebook accounts.

Even if the Facebook accounts are deleted from the chat, any ongoing Instagram conversations involving Facebook accounts will become read-only when the cross-app communication stops. This implies that new messages cannot be sent in these chats by users who have Instagram accounts.

Furthermore, an Instagram user's previous conversations with Facebook accounts won't transfer to their Facebook or Messenger inbox. Additionally, Instagram Activity status will automatically stop being viewable with a Facebook account.

Instagram Messenger support was announced by Meta for 2020. Cross-platform messaging between Facebook and Instagram accounts is supported by this feature. The business is now going back on its decision to integrate the two social media platforms, three years later.

Instagram recently released a new feature that limits the number of "Close Friends" with whom users can share posts.

Mark Zuckerberg revealed the feature, which allows users to share posts and Reels with a restricted audience, on his Instagram broadcast channel.

When posting a new photo to their Instagram feed, users now have the option to choose "audience." When a user taps the "Audience" button, a pop-up window requesting permission to share it with their "close friend" list will appear. The window additionally offers the ability to modify the list.

When a follower likes or comments on a post or a Reel with restricted access, other followers on the Close Friend list will be able to see each other's usernames.